You can grab your copy of Benjamin Percy and Cory Smith’s Ghost Rider #1 right now. We’ve got the details about this new release and a dark motion trailer along with never-before-seen original art pieces.
In honor of Ghost Rider’s 50 years of existence, Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider, returns to Marvel comics tomorrow. All for a new series written by Benjamin Percy (WOLVERINE and X-FORCE) and featuring art by Cory Smith (CONAN THE BARBARIAN).
Seeing the return of the spirit of Vengeance, together, this all-star team will bring Ghost Rider to a gruesomely brutal yet beautiful new age of comics glory. Check out the new trailer below.
To catch up as to what’s happening right now at the beginning of this new series, Ghost Rider #1 will pick up with the story of Johnny Blaze. Who is now a man living a very serene and peaceful life: with a wife, two kids, and a stable job at an auto repair shop. He is living a simple life in a rather small yet supportive quiet town community.
Yet despite all this, something is amiss for Johnny. As this happily-ever-after sort of reality that is his life is beginning to feel like some sort of prison. Because deep down, something is keeping him troubled and there’s a spirit inside of him that’s begging to be set free.
In an interview with SYFY WIRE writer Benjamin Percy had this to comment about the upcoming series: “This is a back-to-basics approach that focuses (for now) on Johnny Blaze. Where has he been the past few years? You’ll know soon. I can’t tell you too much, or I’ll undercut the suspense and horror. And rest assured: this is a horror comic. Some really unsettling things happen in this first (oversized) issue alone!”
You can pick up the first issue in stores today wherever comics are available right now!
“What projects was Cook part of?” You ask. Well, back in the day, Cook was an animator for three of the biggest cartoon production companies of the day: Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and Ruby-Spears. His work includes SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, Scooby Goes Hollywood, Plastic Man, Heathcliff, Garfield, Thundarr the Barbarian, Tarzan, He-Man, She-Ra, The Lone Ranger, Blackstar, Duckman, and many others.
When a kid watches a cartoon, all they really get is the finished product. There is a lot that goes into each of these shows. While no one wants to see how the sausage is actually made, I found the insight Mr. Cook had regarding the art, the work, and the process fascinating.
Tom Cook: It was a weird way that I got into the business. I was a bus driver. On my day off, I went out to my mailbox and got my mail. I was sitting down in the kitchen to make myself a sandwich and was going through my junk mail. As I was sitting down to eat my sandwich, I saw this little pamphlet. It was the local college, Cal State Northridge, and they were holding classes in the summertime. So, I thought I’d check them out. There was a comic book class. I decided to take the comic book class because I was a big comic book fan.
My teacher worked for Hanna-Barbera. He saw the artwork that I brought in for my portfolio. He was working for them as a storyboard artist and he was starting The Superfriends project. He asked me if I’d be interested to work there if he recommended me. He got me into a class for basic animation for free. Three weeks later, I got hired.
Filmation’s Tarzan
I know you worked for Hanna-Barbera and for Filmation—which were your favorites?
Tom Cook: Ruby-Spears, as well. But Filmation was my favorite because 1) they kept the work here in the United States. So, I had a job. And 2) it was a good gig because the owner of Filmation, Lou Scheimer, was a really nice guy and took care of the artists. If you look at the credits, our names stay up there for quite a while—they are not running by there a mile a minute. He wanted to make sure that we got the credit. He passed away about ten years ago, but he was just a great guy. The fact that he kept the work in the United States instead of sending the work overseas where he would have made ten times the amount of money in cost savings was great. It was the reason why everyone wound up working at Filmation. It became a huge company.
Chris Peruzzi: The one thing I remembered from Filmation cartoons, especially the old Tarzan series, was it was so detailed. I mean down to watching the monkeys blink for a snapshot. It was fabulous. When I think back on the cartoons of the seventies, those were the really good ones.
He-Man – “I am power!”
Tom Cook: It was more realistic than the other companies. Everything was a little more ‘cartoony’. He-Man and Skeletor were real human-looking figures.
Chris Peruzzi: It was that and the angles that you took. I know that a lot of the stuff was repeated but a lot of the repeated shots were really well done.
Tom Cook: Well, a lot of the repeated shots were because our budgets had to be cut in order to compete with Japan. I mean, we were getting $18 bucks an hour, and to compete with their rates we had to find ways to economize. So, the way Lou got around it was to make some really good animation of the characters running and using repeat footage. Change the background. Change the distance. He knew that most kids weren’t going to notice.
Chris Peruzzi: Because you were doing the work on the transparency of the cells. Actually, that leads me to my next question—
With a lot of the new technologies that are out there, what new technology would have made your job a lot easier back in the day?
Tom Cook: Any of the stuff that they use today would have made the job easier, but it would not have made it better. What they do today is use the technology to draw the “in-betweens”. What we had done back in the day was use the cells to draw things like a turning head where you could see the angles of the face change with the animation. The newer stuff doesn’t make it look like it’s really alive. They’ll do that with the body until it has to move with a quick change in direction. We would do it smoothly. I don’t think it looks as good today as some of the things we did back then. A head turn now would be a snap in the direction. We would draw the images between the motion.
Who were your main influences?
Tom Cook: My main influence was Steve Ditko. That’s why I decided to draw because I loved his Spider-Man. I was eight years old when Spider-Man came out and it changed my life. It made me want to draw. About five years ago, I was at the New York Comic Con and I introduced myself to Steve.
Chris Peruzzi: He was at the New York Comic-Con?
Jack “The King” Kirby – Legend of comics
Tom Cook: He had an office. And seven days a week he was doing some kind of work for some guy in Oregon, I think. I talked to the security guard and I told him that I didn’t want to ambush him. But I just wanted to thank him for inspiring me to become this animator. So, I waited for him to come out of the elevator. I got a picture of me in front of his office and it said “S. Ditko”. He was really nice. I got to shake his hand and I got to thank him. He really appreciated it.
Then when I worked on Thundarr the Barbarian, I got to meet Jack Kirby. He gave me his address and phone number and told me to come over to the house. Then about four years ago, I was at Stan Lee’s Comikaze in L.A. and the person who ran the show was a big She-Ra fan. She told me to bring a bunch of my stuff and she’d set up a time for Stan to sign. I spent twenty minutes talking to Stan. All three of those guys really influenced me.
Chris Peruzzi: A lot of the drawings and a lot of what you’ve done influenced so many of the modern artists—especially Alex Ross. He took so much of that and brought it into fine relief. It’s amazing the culture that you helped create.
Tom Cook: It was nice to be part of that. When I was talking to Steve Ditko he was saying that when he was a kid he had his favorite artists, too. I was talking to John Romita, Sr. and I mentioned that I had gotten a commission done by George Tuska, who was about 93 at the time. I’ve got this beautiful Iron Man versus Titanium Man that he did for me. John told me that George was his inspiration. He said, “All of a sudden, I’m working with George Tuska at Marvel.” Everybody gets their inspiration. Then you see someday that it’s your turn to be the inspiration.
What it did for me was that most of the people that I worked with weren’t big comic book fans, but they liked cartoons. So, when I worked on He-Man or Super Friends, I had the superhero mindset and knew the poses—and they didn’t. They would say things like “I don’t know how to get this character to look really dynamic.” I’d tell them to pick up a Jack Kirby comic book if they wanted to learn dynamic poses.
Last question. How long did it take to produce a single half-hour episode?
Tom Cook: We had a week to do an episode. That was our section. Then it would go to “Ink and Paint”. I think it took a couple of months to get an entire episode from start to finish. We had a week. I would get my stack for the week. Then Monday morning you’re picking up work for the next episode. We must have had about a hundred and twenty animators and assistant animators. That’s how we could get through it. Those were the opportunities for the reusable scenes. That’s what Lou would go over and decide over the “stock scenes”. Like anytime He-Man fights against Beast Man, we’d use a specific stock scene again.
The beloved Netflix series is airing its season in halves. It’s also, ending. Here are some key art and news to cry about it.
In a move that is becoming increasingly a trend in steering away from entire season drops in the industry, Stranger Things Season 4 is splitting its newest season in half. Airing Volume 1 on May 27th and Volume 2 on July 1st. Saddened by the news, Netflix had this official statement from showrunners, the Duffer brothers:
So yes, it’s confirmed the series, beloved by virtually everyone with a Netflix account, is finally ending. After an outstanding run since 2016. Though if that message from the creators wasn’t enough to try and calm us, the Network also provided some gorgeous key art.
According to Netflix’s press release, season 4 is set to take place 6 months after the Battle at Starcourt Mall. Where everyone is sort of reeling from having been separated for the first time right as they begin high school. To make matters even more complicated, the Upside Down seems to have followed, though this time, perhaps for the last time—if the gang can solve this new mystery.
Since the show’s debut in 2016, Stranger Things has been a TV phenomenon. With 65 award wins and 175 award nominations, including an Emmy, Golden Globe, Grammy, SAG, DGA, PGA, WGA, BAFTA, a Peabody Award, AFI TV Program of the Year, the People’s Choice Awards, MTV Movie & TV Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and somehow, many others.
The three-time Emmy nominee for Best Drama is one of Netflix’s most-watched titles, with Season 3 amassing 582 million view hours ranking as the second most popular English-language series in the Netflix Top 10, and Season 2 accounting for 427 million view hours ranking at #10. Stranger Things was created by The Duffer Brothers and is produced by Monkey Massacre Productions & 21 Laps Entertainment. The Duffer Brothers serve as executive producers on the series, alongside Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment, and Iain Paterson.
In the final episode of A Discovery of Witches season 3, justice comes to collect, revelations are had, and a new beginning blossoms.
Gerbert Pays a Visit
Gerbert pays a visit of pretense to Ysabeau, spouting their history together hunting witches. She tells him that things change. He implores her to give up her grandchildren to the Congregation so that she can be spared when justice comes upon her family for Matthew and Diana’s violation of the covenant. She aptly refuses and he leaves saying that he warned her.
Rescuing Matthew
At Sept-Tours, everyone is in high gear as the frantic search for Matthew begins after Benjamin sent over a video depicting his status as prisoner. Baldwin soon arrives to the astonishment of the others but turns out that Diana called him for help. She shows him the clip and the vampire notices that Benjamin is wearing Philippe’s watch. Baldwin goes into further detail that his father was a prisoner of the Nazis and there is no way Benjamin would have gotten that item without being present during the torture. He also reveals that Gerbert has been sponsoring and protecting the blood raged vampire as both hate the de Cleremont family.
Diana asks where Philippe was being held back then and Ysabeau answers in a hospital outside a town in Chelm, Poland. Baldwin says that he and Matthew had gone there to rescue their father, but it had been too late, it seems that Benjamin wants the same fate for Diana’s husband. The witch takes Baldwin, Gallowglass, Marcus, and Miriam with her while Hamish, Fernando, Phoebe, and Sarah are on surveillance duty to let them know if Matthew gets moved.
Once they arrive at the hospital, Diana quickly becomes aware of Satu’s enchantments as they come across fake Matthews with his heart exposed via an open chest cavity. The other witch keeps mentally taunting her with cries of babies and whispers that the others will all die here. This prompts the historian to cast a barrier spell to let her deal with the other weaver alone. It’s a tense moment as the two women finally come face to face again after what happened in season one. Diana asks why she is helping Benjamin when he has killed their kind. Satu begs to differ that the other witches were not their kind because they are special.
The other woman then brings up La Pierre and Diana says she still has the scars. Satu wants her to give up her secrets and the Book of Life but surprise, Diana reveals that she is the book now! This prompts a very angry response because she was supposed to have this destiny. Satu ignites flames in her hands and is determined to remove the magic from Diana, but the calm historian easily extinguishes the fire. It’s obvious that Diana’s understanding of her abilities is a lot more advanced than Satu’s and she tells the other weaver that their magic is the lifeblood of all witch magic. They could have been the greatest allies but it’s too bad Satu chose to use her power to destroy. Now Diana has no choice but to spellbind her.
It’s a good departure from the books to have Satu be Benjamin’s ally as opposed to Peter Knox, but the show kept to the original outcome where she is spellbound by Diana. I was wondering if there was going to be more of a fight between the women alas, we got a very quick resolution to this showdown.
Next is Benjamin and Diana uses the tenth knot spell on him, delivering justice through the goddess Diana’s flaming arrow. The vampire is no match and crumbles to ashes.
Matthew is taken back to Sept-Tour where he is given Ysabeau’s blood to heal his wounds. The process is slow as the damage to his body was extensive. Eventually though he recovers and sometime later, the geneticist helps figure out the science around what Diana discovered through the Book of Life, that all creatures were linked. Matthew explains that Diana and he both have daemon DNA and in fact a lot of them do. The amount all depends on how far back their daemon ancestry went. This is also the key in explaining blood rage as a human with enough daemon DNA becomes a vampire, the condition is triggered.
Diana says that the book revealed to her that weavers were born from witch and daemon unions with Matthew adding that is also the reason why she can carry his children. Chris drops the biggest bombshell that the waning of witch powers, the difficulty for vampires to sire, and the growth of mental health collapse in daemons all correlate to the decline of daemon DNA across all creature groups.
To New Beginnings
Diana wants to take all this knowledge to the Congregation to prove that the covenant is wrong but Baldwin interjects that he will be out voted and won’t be able to protect her. However, he comes up with a solution to have her be the de Cleremont representative because it was never stipulated that seat needed to be filled by a vampire. As Philippe’s blood-sworn daughter and recognized by Baldwin as such, she is a full-fledged member of the family.
They arrive in Venice much to the horrific surprise of Gerbert who threatens Baldwin that he’s signed his family’s death sentence. The older vampire attempts to counter Diana every step of the way, but she provides the evidence that they are all linked together and that it is daemon blood that is vital to the survival of all creatures. She proposes a motion to end the covenant once and for all, while Gerbert wants her executed for her crimes. But the schemer is outvoted and even Domenico turns on him. In episode six, the other vampire had been the one to tell Baldwin that Gerbert had been behind Benjamin without wanting anything in return. To make things all the sweeter, Diana then proposes that Agatha lead the Congregation and the motion is approved. Before she departs, she turns back and quietly tells Gerbert that his day of justice is coming.
In the aftermath, Agatha is reunited with her family, Domenico seemingly becomes the head of the vampires within the Congregation, Phoebe and Marcus get engaged, Chris and Miriam get closer, Matthew creates a plaque to honor his brother Hugh’s memory at Sept-Tours, Gallowglass and Matthew seem to come to an understanding at the younger vampire departs, Sarah gets closure from Emily’s death, Ysabeau and Baldwin remember Philippe, Jack and Marthe spend time with the twins, and Diana fills the pages of the Book of Life.
The episode ends with a party at Sept-Tours and Diana and Matthew dance as they’ve managed to overcome intense adversity through their love for each other, friends, and family.
Final Thoughts
The adaptation for this whole series has been so much fun and I’ve really enjoyed the changes made to the story. It was really satisfying to have Sarah enact justice on Peter Knox and while in the books he was the main witch villain through the end, having Satu take on that role also was a good move. Having Diana so easily defeat both Benjamin and Satu really showed how she’s come into her own power and was no longer scared of her magic.
Toby Regbo really stood out for me this season in his portrayal of an older Jack. His performance really captured the torment of the character’s actions and his love for Diana and Matthew.
Domenico’s change at the end of this season was also a pleasant surprise as I was not expecting him to grow tired of Gerbert’s autocratic and power-hungry tactics. This proved to benefit him in the end as the other vampire was now totally out of clout within the Congregation.
All in all, what a treat to be able to see these characters come to life on screen. It was beautifully done from locations to costumes, coloring and editing, and everything else in between. Here’s hoping that an adaptation of Time’s Convert graces us in the future to see Marcus’ origins and his and Phoebe’s next chapter.
A Discovery of Witches can be streamed on AMC, Shudder, and Sundance NOW.
At first glance, Season 4 seems like Midge regressing back to those early seasons. It’s not, and I’d argue, the fake-reset is just what the series needed
When The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel first debuted it immediately became an Emmy-award-winning darling with a series of outstanding nominations spanning from the years of 2018 to 2020. Considered one of the best comedies of its caliber, this in-your-face take about a Jewish female comedian in the 1950s who broke all the same rules that men’s stand-up comics were already renowned for, was nothing shy of an entertaining spectacle. It was sharp and funny and a testament to the quality that Amazon could bring to media… at a time when almost everyone had doubts about them finding a hit. This… was that hit.
The series hit all the right beats for the awards circuit. Witty dialogue? Check. Jewish Hollywood American Zeitgeist? Check. Solid performers and a stunning leading lady? All checks. Naturally, this had all the elements for it to be successful for years in riding the momentum as Amazon’s flagship series. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was to Amazon as Breaking Bad was to AMC, Stranger Things is to Netflix, or Rick and Morty is to Adult Swim.
And then… the pandemic came.
With this, of course, came a long pause in the series production. Over 2 years in fact. Which is more than enough time to have passed to let the pop-cultural algorithms forget about you in this day and age. As Midge, with her in-your-face snappy Gilmore Girls-Esque driven dialogue, and her misadventures of having too much of your comedy cake and eating it too became somewhat of an afterthought. At least, during a time where race riots were high, a disease plagued a large chunk of the world, and the redemptive year that was 2021… fizzled out; our promised roaring 20’s round 2 — a sentiment that would’ve worked well in the spirit of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — having never come to pass.
This is by no means of any fault to the series. But rather, I think that Mrs. Maisel’s less-than-stellar early reception for this season thus far is fairly congruent with the sentiment of the times. The people want change. They’re tired of seeing things play out exactly the same way. Which is why seeing the series seemingly regress backward has been off-putting. At least for critics. And fans. And anyone lamenting over how this series is now moving to an episodic-over the Netflix era binge-watching the entire season model.
Pictured- Rachel Brosnahan in THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL Season 4 Episode 1, “Rumble on the Wonder Wheel.” Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios.
Season 4 begins with a hard reset: where Midge has trashed yet again, her hopes of fame, by outing Shy Baldwin as gay in public during a set at the Apollo. At the same time, Susie needs to get her client’s money because the duo are essentially poor again. The two return back to living in New York. Rebuying the same old apartment. Performing at the same old nightclub. And living again with the same old judgemental family, whose own career pivots and character progressions: also, see them more-or-less exactly back to where they were in the city. With nobody ever really changing after the promise of so much of it when we left off…
While the second episode sees Midge back to barely surviving off the backs of others and promises and favors, it’s again recycling of seasons one and two. Gone is the go-get-em on tour progress of Midge showcased in season 3, all for this dreadful sentiment: that it’s more than likely over. But we the audience, honestly know that it’s not. The season just started. Midge will keep defying the patriarchal boys club and the double standards of comedy, as Susie, will hilariously find solutions to support her. It’s all the same beats we’ve grown to know from the past with an emphasis that Midge is going to no longer do the grunt work and will take the lead (which she’s already stated/proven several times over throughout the series). Though the first two episodes are also a means of refamiliarizing ourselves with the characters.
That said, the first two episodes do see some progress. Sophie Lemmon is still crazy but serves as a great tool early this season, in showing how far Susie has come along. That sure, managing Sophie was rather awful, but it gave Susie a reputation as someone who could get things done. Abe’s story this season is promising as it introduces audiences to that age-old dilemma of how to make a living off of art. And Joel, who seems to be the only one who’s actually continuing his path of growth and responsibility, is in a rather serious Jewish-Chinese semi-romance/semi-independence and relationship storyline that surprisingly has a lot of legs to it in that it’s going places; as compared to the rest of the season so far.
Still, it’s Brosnahan and Borstein that steal the show. Continually providing stellar performances that feel like they’re never failing their characters. The series is just as witty and funny as ever. Very much in the realms of the talk-a-lot dialogue creator Amy Sherman-Palladino is well known for. For what it’s worth, the show’s never forgotten its roots. As we see a lot of references are used in the pop-cultural American zeitgeist of the stereotypical 1950s Jewish New Yorker. The Coney Island Wonder Wheel. The typical Jewish family and marriage tropes like something straight out of a Woody Allen movie. It’s just somehow, watching this show feels slightly different… and the word privilege is thrown around much more today than it ever was circa 2020.
It should be noted, that I think what’s harming the show right now is that it took way too long to come back and keep relevant. There is just more content across every single medium than ever before. This series is no Ted Lasso or Fleabag. Nor does it have current buzz-worthy features such as Euphoria or Yellowjackets. This is not to say that The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel should aspire to be these other series, but rather, that we’ve seen a lot of what the first two episodes provide here already. And it feels an awful lot like we’re going back to an earlier time in the series, at a time in the real world, where going backward by any means or fashion feels very off-putting for a lot of people.
But personally… in my opinion… Well, I actually think that this is the joke?
The cuckold before the cackle.
That what makes this season promising isn’t so much that we’ve seen it all before, but rather, that it’s the reacquainting of a story from years ago that we the audience, bombarded by all this entertainment these past few years, have likely forgotten.
I genuinely think what The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 4 is setting up is a rebuilding of this world that we’re only now just remembering. That the weekly releases were intentionally done to get us to remember why we love this series in the first place. To genuinely remember why we love to see Midge tear it all down.
Because if Lenny Bruce, both the legendary comic and in-series counterpart, can be his self-destructive self and get arrested and tear up a stage with truth bombs and no, no, words… why shouldn’t Midge?
That’s the key. We’ve been reminded who this show is and what Midge is doing. Now it’s time for our girl Midge to Fuck Shit Up.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Airs Fridays Every Day in March
Comedian George Carlin opens the 13th annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival at the Wheeler Opera House, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007, in Aspen, Colo. (AP Photo/E. Pablo Kosmicki)
Coming in May, this two-part documentary series directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio will be available on HBO Max
For any classic comedy lovers, this news should be enthralling. As HBO Documentary Films has developed a touching deep-look into the acerbic life and legacy of the beloved comedian, with George Carlin’s American Dream.
Following the life and work of the legendary comedian. The series will look into Carlin’s claim to fame, looking first into his childhood growing up in NYC, and then later, his longstanding struggle with drugs and how they detrimentally affected his health as he’d gotten older. The documentary even looks into Carlin’s brushes with the law and takes a look at each of his marriages, with intimate interviews with Carlin and Brenda’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, who offers insight into her family’s story and her parent’s love. The documentary also looks into Carlin’s tragic relationship with his first wife Brenda Hosbrook, who’d later, passed of liver cancer.
Considered the “Dean of Counterculture Comedians,” Carlin’s half-a-century long career saw him headline 14 HBO comedy specials and host over 130 Tonight Show appearances. As the comedian kept evolving and consistently changing his routine to stay relevant up until his timely death and beyond. His ability to prophetize about the truth resonates even today and this documentary looks at the legend from the lens of one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all-time.
There will also feature never-before-seen material including photos, films, audios, letters, and diaries. With a slew of interviews from Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Patton Oswalt, Stephen Colbert, Bill Burr, Bette Midler, W. Kamau Bell, Sam Jay, Judy Gold, Jon Stewart, and others.
Produced by HBO Documentary Films, Rise Films, and Apatow Productions, the series is officially directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio; edited by Joe Beshenkovsky. And executive produced by Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio, Teddy Leifer, Jerry Hamza, and Kelly Carlin.
Netflix Partners With 2K and Take-Two to produce a Live-Action Film Adaptation
In a release from Netflix just days ago, it was confirmed that the streaming studio giant is partnering with 2K and Take-Two Interactive to produce a live-action film adaptation of Bioshock. With Vertigo Entertainment and Take-Two serving as producers.
For those unfamiliar as to why this is such a big deal, Bioshock is considered one of the greatest games of all-time. Featuring a pool of talented developers who’d influenced multi-generational periods of gaming across the industry (beginning with System Shock and arguably ending with Bioshock Infinite).
Originally led by a team guided by creative director Ken Levine, who is considered one of the last big ‘Do whatever you want you creative genius’ sort of talents in the gaming industry, the games: Bioshock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite redefined the dystopian science fiction genre. With visionary takes at an Ayn Rand metropolis/art deco society gone awry.
The original BioShock was a story about Jack, a mysterious plane crash survivor. Jack had found an underwater world filled of genetic enhancement, mutated humans in diving suits, tiny little sisters, and the incredibly horrifying Big Daddies. All for a horror adventure story that featured one of gaming’s greatest twists of all time.
Driving it all, was a horror/science fiction first-person shooter experience set in an impossible city in the sea named Rapture. A place whose inhabitants sought escape from society in a very Atlas Shrugged kind of way where industry and capitalism had gone awry. It was a game that questioned 19th-century industrialization. It sold more than 39 million copies and provided one of the most brilliant twists in science fiction possibilities in terms of gaming, “Would you kindly, care to comply”…
Originally a project in developmental hell for the past decade, it was Netflix that revived the hopes of the adaption. Not only is Netflix at the moment the world’s biggest studio in terms of subscribers, Hollywood accolades, and talent pools, but they’re also the most successful Video Game to TV/Movie studio. With Resident Evil, Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and of course, The Witcher, under the helm of successful adaptations.
After Three Years of Waiting Barry Returns This April 24th
After years of pandemic delays, the Emmy award-winning Barry, starring Bill Hader, returns for an eight-episode third season on Sunday, April 24 10:00 pm EST. The dark comedy series has been an HBO award-winning darling, with thirty Emmy nominations and six Emmy awards including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Bill Hader); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Henry Winkler); Outstanding Sound Editing For a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation; and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation.
Co-created, executive produced, directed, and written by both Alec Berg and Bill Hader, the series features several star-studded cast members including Steven Root as Monroe Fuches, Barry’s former handler currently in hiding; Sarah Goldberg as Sally, Barry’s girlfriend in the midst of launching her first TV series; Anthony Carrigan as Noho Hank, head of the Chechen mob in LA; and Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau, Barry’s acting teacher who is now in severe mourning over the loss of his girlfriend Detective Janice Moss, who was murdered by last season’s finale. Returning for season three as a cast regular is Sarah Burns as Detective Mae Dunn. Returning recurring cast includes D’Arcy Carden as Natalie Greer and Michael Irby as Cristobal.
From last we left off, Barry was still desperate to leave his violent past as an assassin behind in favor of being an actor. Unable to escape from the world of contract killing, Barry has now spent two seasons eliminating all the external factors that pushed him towards violence. However, he soon discovers, these weren’t the only forces at play. This season, sees everyone questions what is the morally right thing to do? While Barry finally examines what it was about himself that led him to become a killer in the first place?
The popular artist comes back for a 4-Part storyline set within the current Krakoan community of the X-Men
The fan-favorite Marvel Unlimited X-Men anthology is back with a new arc drawn by acclaimed artist Declan Shalvey! Debuting this past February 14th, X-Men Unlimited #22 has returned with a brand new 4-part story that is set within the current Krakoan continuity. The comic follows the initial “Latitude” story done by Shalvey and Jonathan Hickman. Marvel Unlimited subscribers can catch #22 in the app now and continue the adventure with new chapters each Monday!
When asked about details regarding the new X-Men Unlimited arc, Shalvey had this to say in Marvel’s press release:
“This new story follows directly from the initial ‘Latitude’ story I did with Jonathan Hickman a few months back where Wolverine hunted down an A.I.M. cell responsible for kidnapping mutants from The Peak station. In ‘Longitude,’ we catch up with Logan as he searches for the last missing mutant and he has recruited some fellow Krakoans to get to the bottom of this. Getting to take all the reins on an X-Men story like this is a rare opportunity that I really relished.”
He was then asked about his opinion on working in the vertical Infinity Comics space:
“From a writer/artist perspective, there’s a lot to play with in taking advantage of the format, and getting to just pick and choose characters from the wide X-Men cast was like being a kid all over again.”
Shalvey is well-known for working on Moon Knight, Thunderbolts, and Deadpool for Marvel. He is also known for drawing the comic book adaptation to 28 Days Later and has collaborated with writer Warren Ellis on several occasions, most recently, for Image’s Injection.
Now, if you haven’t signed up for it yet, Marvel Unlimited spans over 29,000 comics throughout the entire Marvel Universe. The app is available for all apple and android products and the web. I highly suggest getting it, as you can get a lot of the popular Marvel comics out right now, their podcasts, and several issues related to major Marvel events that are often relevant to the MCU Disney+ series that are releasing right now.
Hitting stands officially as of today, this new adventure starring Black Panther, Moon Girl, and Valkyrie commemorates Black History Month
Featuring a lineup of both new and established voices amongst comic creators, this special edition one-shot of MARVEL’S VOICES: LEGACY #1 is a sheer celebration of black superheroes. All in honor of Black History Month. This year’s edition features Black Panther, Moon Girl, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, and more! With interviews, essays, and a special featured piece on Monica Rambeau. Below, is a sneak peek as to what’s in stands today, featuring all-new never-before-seen art from numerous creators.
As revealed in Marvel’s press release yesterday, Marvel’s Stormbreaker comic book artist Natacha Bustos makes her official writing debut in Legacy #1’s featured story: Wanna Play? This one-off is a fun adventure piece featuring a sibling playfulness sort of story all set in the marvels of Wakanda. It also stars none other than the Panther family themselves, T’Challa and Shuri.
Meanwhile, Novelist Victor LaValle teams up with artist Karen Darboe for a story starring Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur called Gross Borough Caper. A sneaky thrilling adventure about Moon Girl sneaking out of the home. If that weren’t enough, screen and podcast writer J. Holtham, whom we at the workprint interviewed about Marvel’s Wastelanders: Hawkeye months back, along with artist Julian Shaw explore the legacy of Sam Wilson, in “Date Night”. A story where Sam is late on a date with Misty Knight featuring some fantastic action sequences.
Finally, writer and artist Maria Fröhlich puts Rūna, the new Valkyrie, to the test in an archeological adventure experience! All for an epic fantasy tale featured in Asgard, that will feature some nifty art and armor.
You can check out all of these stories and more in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy #1. In comic books stores right now.
After seeing it featured in Hawkeye on Disney+, we decided to check out some LARP gear at the Winter Edition of the Garden State Comic Fest 2022
As we soon enter the third year of the pandemic, always with the promise that things are winding down, it’s easy to lose yourself in the wonders of binge-watching. Stream, stream, the bad times away, right? Well, nice as that might seem, it’s probably not the best option for your health. As you may or may not know a sedentary lifestyle isn’t great. Sitting is basically the new smoking. Don’t get me wrong, the vicarious thrill of watching someone on a Netflix or Disney+ series jog about and globetrot is fantastic. But it’s still not you jogging or trotting. Still, one series, a little Disney+ Christmas special called Hawkeye, did offer an oft-overlooked solution…
LARP, or Live Action Role-Playing for those of us unfamiliar, turned out to play a pivotal role in Disney+’s Hawkeye. Early in the series, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) loses his wayward Ronin suit to a NYC firefighter (played by Clayton English) who steals it from the burning apartment of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld); later, forcing the reluctant Barton to partake in the activity to try and win it back. It should be noted that members of the LARP community do not condone this behavior. Stealing is bad kids even if you’re Elf royalty in your off-time.
Anyway, LARP used to be thought of as a nerdy straight white male pastime. The inevitable evolution for Dungeons and Dragons players who grew more mature, got some money, and moved out of their parents’ basements. In recent years, however, there’s been a real push to legitimize this pinnacle of nerd culture.
LARP at The Merchant of Many Things: GSCF 2022
While at the Garden State Comic Fest last weekend, I met and spoke with a man named Eric Roll. Eric is a “booth babe”, working for a company called The Merchant of Many Things—a supplier of weapons, clothing, and accessories to make your LARP game strong.
Having watched Hawkeye I was drawn to the playful vendor setup featuring meta signs like “Bread 5$”, “Potion bottles”, and “Fish”. Mind you, each of these items, save for the bottles, is an adorable recreation of their real-world counterparts.
The weapons, by contrast, are no joke. While not made of genuine steel, they have come a long way from the pool noodles and cardboard swords of Role Models (please note: Eric does NOT recommend a pool noodle wrapped around PVC pipe—don’t do it!). These weapons are beautiful, and some of them even have a decent heft to them, not to mention they are crafted with safety in mind.
Well, you’ve got a place to procure provisions, but where can you play? Turns out, that’s probably just an internet search away.
Eric says for Jersey boys and girls itching to sate their fantasy curiosities Knight Realms is a game based in Spartan which runs monthly events out of a repurposed Girl Scout camp. If you drop by at the end of the month, you could run into The Merchant of Many Things as Eric informed they will be vending there!
Don’t live in Jersey? That’s ok, you’re not without hope. Amtgard and Dagorhir are two groups Eric mentioned to me which have chapters in just about every US State. In fact, the only real boundary to dipping your toes in the fantasy role-playing moat is you…also, being from an urban area doesn’t help. See, most LARP is done in wide open, rural spaces. This might explain the lack of diversity in many LARP communities, but just because it’s been this way so far doesn’t mean it has to stay this way. Check out LINC—LARPing in Color—a nonprofit dedicated to helping the LARP and tabletop community become more diverse and inclusive.
Eric sounded very hopeful for the future of LARP—where safety, anti-harassment, and inclusion are concerned. He told me a lot of games are becoming more inclusive, with some having a strong POC and LGBTQ+ base. If you’re in these groups, don’t despair you can find a community that will accept and embrace you!
OK, so, you’ve got a club in mind, a place to go, but how do you…actually get started? What do you need? Is the overhead high?
According to Eric: no. In fact, by his account, all you need is a dagger, a shirt, pants, a belt, and a character in mind. While The Merchant sells fantastic weaponry, do check out whatever weapon requirements your LARP has—Eric told me a lot of the NY area LARPs stick to what are called “boffers”—which would be your standard foam sword. Once again, don’t make your own out of PVC and foam, better to use fiberglass and EVA foam.
The bright side? Boffers are very affordable, making this pastime pretty easy to enter. Eric’s recommendation for buying a weapon (should you find a LARP that allows for more elegant weaponry)? A dollar a day rule—so, if a weapon is less than 365$ and he’s using it every day, well, that’s less than a dollar a day! His sword was 200$ but he’s been using it for five years! Not too shabby.
But what if you don’t live around any LARPs?
Eric recommends signing up for an event and planning a vacation around it. This allows you to build up a solid character in the downtime, making for a grand premiere! Plus, the community is still online, so you can maintain relationships and character stats in the world wide web. Basically, similar to how a lot of high-end cosplayers do it—build yourself up for that one time of the year when you show it off, then use the downtime to improve for the next round.
I will say after watching the Olympics for the past week I’m motivated to do something. And, considering LARP is a much more reasonably priced hobby than say, skiing, I might take the plunge. Will you?
The host of Marvel’s upcoming Black Panther podcast, The New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone shares with us how much T’Challa’s story has changed from mysterious Avenger to Wakandan King, and even, Harlem School Teacher.
The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther reveals a lot about T’Challa that your average MCU fan probably didn’t know about. Hosted by author Nic Stone, this deep dive featuring interviews with the creatives who helped shape T’Challa’s journey, takes a look at the importance of the character. Though not just as the most important black superhero born during the civil rights era and Black power movement—which he was—but also, as a Black man wanting to do good at the time despite the prejudices of his modern era. What that meant then and what that means right now.
Let’s be clear, there is a surprising amount of comic history regarding the cultural account that guided the story of the Black Panther. Sixty years’ worth of material, in fact. Which is why Marvel sought a modern voice to tell it, the one and only, Nic Stone, author of Shuri: A Black Panther series of YA novels and essayist in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy #1.
Nic and I talked all about the importance of Panther’s Legacy. Our chat is in the podcast link below, but you can find a transcription of our talk here.
Thanks for being here, Nic. First, can you tell us a bit about your history as a writer and why you’re a self-proclaimed, Shuri Stan?
“Oh my gosh. Okay, so, honestly, I didn’t start writing until I was like 28? But a lot of it had a lot to do with a lack of representation in the books I was reading as a kid. As I just didn’t see writing as something a person like me could do at the time.”
Let it be noted that Stone, in just 6 years, has published 7 books including 2 NYT bestsellers: Dear Martin and Clean Getaway. She continued…
“I’m a Shuri Stan because she was who I was in middle school. So finally getting to see a version of myself, somebody like me on-screen and in comic books, was huge. So she will forever live in my heart and it’s such a blast getting to write stories about her.”
What made you want to host a Black Panther history podcast?
“I mean, who could say no to this? When I think about the Black Panther and my limited knowledge of his history from the perspective of the creator(s). The opportunity to talk to the people who created him?
Yeah, give me that!
It was also interesting hearing how he transformed over time on the same parallels to how history was moving. It was a really exciting thing we got to explore on the podcast.”
In episode one, you reveal that Black Panther wasn’t even revealed to be black initially. Can you share with audiences the significance of this moment?
“The most interesting thing to me about this was that I absolutely presumed that anybody who met the Black Panther in 1966 would have known that he was Black! But basically, there was this initial discussion as to how the Black Panther’s mask would be drawn. Some iterations had Panther wear a half-mask, where the lower section of his face was shown as brown. But in the end, they decided to go with a full-covered mask. The revelation that nobody knew that the Black Panther was Black upon first meeting made me need to check my assumptions more frequently. You just associate, Black Panther, Black Man, given the circumstances.”
Overcoming systemic racism is a common thread in T’Challa’s story. How has that challenge changed over time regarding the Black Panther, then versus now?
“So, the Black Panther came to be during the civil rights moment and also shared a name with one of the most notorious — which was probably the word used back then, so I’ll use it now, though I don’t see The Black Panther Party as notorious in a negative sense — groups of the time. He gets introduced at the same time as this political party.
We first see him as an Avenger after he brings the Fantastic Four in, but then, over time, once he gets his own stories, he engages directly with a lot of racist things. He goes to Rudyarda to battle Apartheid. We see him take on the Klan. As time progresses into the 90s and 2000s the way T’Challa deals with racism is very different because the way we deal with racism is different.
I think it was Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run that was the one where I felt the most seen with regard to the battle with race, racism, and anti-racism. I felt that this was super timely. The one that felt adult where I could read and understand things in a different way than when I was younger. His interactions with race and racism? They definitely track with the world and how it’s changed. With Black people’s specifically in America and their interactions in regards to race and racism.”
You talk a bit about the creator consumer collaboration. Can you elaborate on your thoughts on this?
“As a creator, you are making things, but in order for those things to be consumable, they have to appeal to the consumer. And as a creator, we automatically collaborate with consumers when they engage with the things we create.
So, the thing that I most appreciate about the creators of Black Panther, is that not only were they creating things that consumers were willing to interact with, they were also, creating things consumers had to think about.
Even if they didn’t think about it, it’s going into consumers’ heads. They had to process the things these creators put in this comic. Honestly, if you look at his evolution over time, it was because of those collaborations that he had to grow, change, and evolve.”
I personally had no idea Black Panther was a school teacher until I listened to your podcast. Can you tell us the most surprising story or factoid that you learned?
“Even that one! That T’Challa was like: ‘I’m gonna completely change my name and teach school in New York even though there’s both the whole country of Wakanda and Avengers left behind. But Nah, I’m just gonna teach these kids. Meanwhile, Monica Lin is like, ‘Bro, what?’ It’s a fun storyline to read and puzzle about.”
Stone jokes about this surprising Panther Backstory then shares with us a surprising fact about Panther she discovered:
“But the most interesting thing I did learn? I was always under the assumption Marvel was fine with that connection made with Black Panther and the Black Panther Party, simply because it’s still the same used today in 2022. But learning that his name had changed, was probably the most interesting thing I didn’t know before.
So wait. What did come first? The Black Panther Party or the Superhero?
“It was genuinely around the same time. The same year. About a couple of months in-between and completely unintentional.”
What was your Favorite Interview to do for this podcast?
“Papa Don! Listen, I am so utterly obsessed with Don McGregor. He’s the sweetest man but he’s also just so smart. Interacting with this man, this white man, who decided, in the 1970s to have Black Panther take on the Ku Klux Klan? Oh, we need to talk, sir! Because you’ve been woke longer than most people.
But getting to just talk to him, to hear his philosophies, to hear how he sees people as human beings and wanted to have other people see Black people as human beings? That is an interview I’d redo over and over again just to talk to him.
I’m hoping we’re invited to the next film premiere so we can go together and be besties!”
Having done a bunch of these episodes, in your definitive opinion, what is it about the Black Panther that makes him such an important role model for the Black community and people of color?
“I think it’s T’challa’s tendency to triumph despite facing some pretty hefty obstacles. As of right now, there is six episodes total as we go through his comic history. As you see him evolve over time, as he’s being written by different people, we see this man go through the wringer over and over again and he still triumphs. And in ways that are believable! Ways that see him grow as a person, a ruler, and a superhero. I think it’s why he’s stood the test of time.”
What’s the most challenging thing about making this podcast?
“You’re a podcaster, you know, sometimes there are like, re-tracking sessions. Technical issues. It’s like, we got to get these words correct. It’s making sure things sound good enough to be consumed. This is very creator consumer collaboration right here.”
Thoughts on Chadwick Boseman’s Performance on the character and where do you think they’ll go with the story from here?
“You know, Chadwick Boseman was so iconic as that character. He was not recast for the follow-up film, so, I have no idea, but if they track the comics, Shuri will become the next Black Panther. But who knows? She’s different in the film with regards to her age and what she’s doing. So I don’t know. I do think eventually she will be in the MCU but we will wait and see.”
What is the age difference?
“A little bit younger in the films. In the comics, she’s 19-20. And she’s actually actively trying to become the Black Panther.”
What is the one thing you’d like audiences to take away from listening to this podcast?
“I really want audiences to recognize that yes, he’s Black Panther the first major black superhero, but he’s also a dude. He’s a person. With superpowers and catlike reflexes but he’s also a man. He’s an example we can follow because he’s very, like, feet on the ground and I want people to recognize it. He’s been around for like 60 years.”
Explore the comic book origins of Black Panther with host Nic Stone (@getnicced) and the creators who shaped T’Challa’s journey in 'The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther.'
This new season takes a sharp look at how the mythology behind Marvel has changed over time
Yesterday marked the return of Marvel’s Voices. A podcast hosted by Angélique Rochéthat focuses on in-depth conversations with diverse storytellers about their creative processes, collaborations, and professional journeys, regarding Marvel’s intellectual properties and history.
This four-year-old podcast began in 2018 and was soon followed up with a successful comics anthology adaptation called MARVEL’S VOICES #1 two years after its debut. Having grown with nearly 70 episodes, 8 anthologies, and over 20 essays spotlighting creators and characters representing different communities, there’s a lot to celebrate in regards to this series’ legacy.
The premiere episode of Marvel’s Voices Season 5 is available now on SiriusXM, Marvel Podcasts Unlimited on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts are available. Also available this month as of February 1st, is the Marvel’s Voices: Legacy trade paperback, which collects MARVEL’S VOICES (2020) #1, MARVEL’S VOICES: LEGACY (2021) #1, reprints of significant stories, as well as brand new essays and excerpts of interviews. If that wasn’t enough, there is also, the upcoming February 16 release of MARVEL’S VOICES: LEGACY (2022) #1.
Cover Art by Chris Cross
It’s a lot, we know, but so has been the legacy of Marvel’s longstanding history. A mythology that has evolved and retconned and changed for over 80 years, constantly adapting to the pop-cultural pulse of our times. As the world around us has changed, so has the Marvel Universe.
As for the rest of the season, be on the lookout for upcoming guests like the legendary Larry Hama and author Nic Stone. In a unique spin, Marvel’s Voices will also be mixing it up by opening the host seat to some guest voices.
Netflix Releases A Slate of New Movies featuring some of the best in Hollywood, all in 2022
For the past several years, Netflix has implemented a strategy of a new movie and new TV show debuting on an almost weekly basis. This year is no exception. So if you want to spend a weekend inside watching the latest show or a brand new film? They’ve got something for just about everybody. Both local and international.
Their most ambitious film release year yet, here’s a list of 10 of the best movies on Netflix’s current slate of films that you’re going to want to check out in 2022. Note, however, that I didn’t include international films on this list (there’s a lot of those too for Netflix).
AGAINST THE ICE
DIRECTOR: Peter Flinth
WRITERS: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Derrick
PRODUCER: Baltasar Kormákur
CAST: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Denmark
RELEASE DATE: March 2nd
ABOUT: Against the Ice is a true story of friendship, love, survival, and the power of the human spirit as two men (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole) trek unknown parts of Greenland on a harrowing expedition that changed history.
BASED ON THE BOOK:Two Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelse
APOLLO 10 ½: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD
DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater
WRITER: Richard Linklater
PRODUCERS: Richard Linklater, Mike Blizzard, Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: John Sloss and Melissa Cobb
CAST: Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L’Amoreaux, Josh Wiggins, Sam Chipman, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Danielle Guilbot with Zachary Levi and Glenn Powell and Jack Black
ABOUT:Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood tells the story of the first moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives—the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and through the eyes of a kid growing up in Houston, Texas who has intergalactic dreams of his own. Taking inspiration from Academy Award-nominated® filmmaker Richard Linklater’s own life, Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood is a snapshot of American life in the 1960s that is part coming of age, part societal commentary, and part out-of-this-world adventure.
THE BUBBLE
DIRECTOR: Judd Apatow
WRITERS: Judd Apatow, Pam Brady
PRODUCER: Judd Apatow
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Barry Mendel, Donald Sabourin, and Pam Brady
CAST: Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Pedro Pascal, Peter Serafinowicz, Vir Das, Rob Delaney, Galen Hopper, Samson Kayo, Guz Khan, Nick Kocher, Ross Lee, Harry Trevaldwyn, Danielle Vitalis
ABOUT: The Bubble is a comedy about a group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempting to complete a sequel to an action franchise film about flying dinosaurs.
ENOLA HOLMES 2
DIRECTOR: Harry Bradbeer
WRITER: Jack Thorne
PRODUCERS: Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Ali Mendes, Millie Bobby Brown, Paige Brown
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Joshua Grode, Michael Dreyer, Harry Bradbeer, Jack Thorne
CAST: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Louis Partridge, Helena Bonham Carter, David Thewlis, Susan Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Hannah Dodd, Abbie Hern, Gabriel Tierney, Serrana Su-Ling Bliss
ABOUT: Now a detective-for-hire like her infamous brother, Enola Holmes takes on her first official case to find a missing girl, as the sparks of a dangerous conspiracy ignite a mystery that requires the help of friends—and Sherlock himself—to unravel.
BASED ON THE BOOK SERIES BY: Nancy Springer
THE GRAY MAN
DIRECTORS:Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
WRITERS: Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
PRODUCERS: Joe Roth, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Mike Larocca, Chris Castaldi
CAST: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Wagner Moura, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Regé-Jean Page, Julia Butters, Eme Ikwuakor, Scott Haze
ABOUT: When the CIA’s most skilled mercenary—whose true identity is known to none—accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
BASED ON THE BOOK SERIES:The Gray Man by Mark Greaney
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
DIRECTORS:Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson
WRITERS: Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale
PRODUCERS: Guillermo del Toro, Lisa Henson, Alexander Bulkley, Corey Campodonico, and Gary Ungar
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Jason Lust
CAST: Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman
ABOUT: Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
KNIVES OUT 2
DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
WRITER: Rian Johnson
PRODUCERS: Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman
CAST: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline
ABOUT: In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.
ABOUT: An unlikely hero emerges from prison to take on a world enmeshed in corporate greed and eroding spiritual values, seeking revenge from those who took everything from him many years ago.
THE PALE BLUE EYE
DIRECTOR: Scott Cooper
WRITER: Scott Cooper
PRODUCERS: Scott Cooper, Tyler Thompson, John Lesher, Christian Bale
CAST: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Hadley Robinson, Joey Brooks, Brennan Cook, Gideon Glick, Fred Hechinger, Matt Helm, Steven Maier, Charlie Tahan, and Robert Duvall
ABOUT: The Pale Blue Eye is a project Scott Cooper has wanted to helm for more than a decade. The film is a Gothic thriller that revolves around a series of fictional murders that took place in 1830 at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and surrounds a young cadet the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe, played by Harry Melling. Christian Bale portrays retired detective Augustus Landor, tasked with investigating the murders. The Pale Blue Eye is based on Louis Bayard’s best-selling novel of the same name. Bale is producing alongside director/writer Scott Cooper, John Lesher, and Tyler Thompson of Cross Creek Pictures.
BASED ON THE BOOK:The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
WRITERS: Henry Selick, Jordan Peele, and Clay McLeod Chapman
PRODUCERS: Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jordan Peele, Henry Selick
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Lindsay Williams, Eddie Gamarra, Kamil Oshundara, Ian Cooper, Joel Zadak, Win Rosenfeld, Melissa Cobb, and Peter Principato
ABOUT: From the delightfully wicked minds of Henry Selick and Jordan Peele, comes Wendell & Wild, an animated tale about scheming demon brothers Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Peele)—who enlist the aid of 13-year-old Kat Elliot—a tough teen with a load of guilt—to summon them to the Land of the Living. But what Kat demands in return leads to a brilliantly bizarre and comedic adventure like no other, an animated fantasy that defies the law of life and death, all told through the handmade artistry of stop motion.
At Garden State Comic Fest 2022 our very own Rob Kijowski had a conversation with vintage print artist Ian Glaubinger
For all of you ankle-biters and squares, the terms “Googie” and “Mid-Century Modern” may seem as alien as turning on the tube with your physical phalanges (I kid you not, a time existed when you had to get up to turn on the TV). Styles and trends come and go. But aesthetic movements, such as those from the 1940s through the 1960s, stay locked in stasis as if encased in clear lucite…
…With unabashed angles, bombastic starbursts, and sumptuous flashes of the forgotten crayon box hues, obdurately and devilishly in defiance of a bygone era. It was a time of experimentation in concordance with sophistication. Reflected in everything from architecture and fashion to graphic design and building a better living. Call it Space Age, call it Post-War. Call it whatever you’d like. Just don’t call it late for that noon cocktail.
Ian Glaubinger imbues all of these with a perspicacious sense of pop culture as well as the timelessness of every piece. What ensues is a bit of a get-to-know with the artist at Garden State Comic Fest 2022
Interview With Ian Glaubinger
RK: The moment I entered this Con, I was stricken with your work. Where did your love for art start?
Ian Glaubinger: I’ve been drawing my whole life. I came from a family of artists, so, growing up, I was in a house for art was cultivated. So my mother, my father, my sister, all artists.
RK: Oh, nice!
IG: So, whatever, you know, was fostered. And I just knew, growing up, I always wanted to do something with drawing and with illustration and it kind of changed and pivoted as time went on. It started at a very early age like Looney Tunes was what affected me the most-
RK: Chuck Jones and all-
IG: Chuck Jones, Max Fleisher, Betty Boop, and UPA cartoons and Hanna-Barbera, like it, stuck with me- I just went from there.
RK: You say, like the first things you wanted to draw was like anything Looney Tunes related as a point of reference or-
IG: Looney Tunes, Ninja Turtles, dinosaurs, things like that. That was my go-to.
RK: Dinosaurs—always cool! I don’t think I’ve met one person throughout my childhood, where, “Dinosaurs? I don’t care much for them.”
IG: Well, not to get dicey, but some very religious folks may not agree with you.
RK: That’s true! There you go folks, your hot take for the day!
IG: Yeah, yeah, they’re not real. They’re witchcraft and they were put there by evildoers.
RK: I would say that would make for an even more compelling story! As if the story weren’t enough!Where did your affinity, because you have a very specific aesthetic to your style, a mid-century aesthetic, where did that spring from?
IG: I’ve always been drawn towards the retro, anything old. It’s evolved over time, but I guess it really stemmed from things like Hanna-Barbera and UPA cartoons and Max Fleischer and that style, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gravitated towards that even more. My style’s gone from more of the Marvel way to a simpler way to more of Hanna-Barbera way where [this piece of art] is of this from Iron Man to Endgame.
RK: Which is SO COOL. I have to ask, more a personal thing. When you draw, music or no music?
IG: I’m usually listening to music or watching TV-
RK: Is there any particular type to get you in the zone or whatever is on the playlist?
IG: It could be whatever’s on the playlist. I won’t lie and if there was a specific property that I was working on, I’m drawing superheroes, so I’m putting on Hans Zimmer or any of the soundtracks he’s done. I was just doing a piece for Parks and Rec, so I threw Parks and Rec on in the background. It could be related to what I’m drawing or not.
RK: As a screenwriter, I can fully agree with you on the scores as well as whatever’s on in the background. Having seen your body of work, you’ve done some stuff, for Nickelodeon, for example?
IG: Sixty-five to seventy-five percent of my work is licensed. I do work for the studios like Nickelodeon in print and in apparel, and it’s a lot of fun. Most recently, I’ve done something called “Tiki Toons” which was a lot of fun, a lot of characters I got to draw.
RK: What was your first commercial job, the one where you were like “Wow! I get to work for this company?”
IG: I did some sort of stuff, absolutely licensed for a gallery show in LA and it wasn’t like I got paid by the company, but the gallery was sanctioned by the studio, so I had done a Ghostbusters show, but the first official one in 2012 was a licensed screenprint for Lucas Film.
RK: WOW!
IG: It was a series of five posters I’d done. It was the “G.P.S.” series I’d done—the Galactic Park Services-
RK: OH!
IG: They were like travel posters based on locations in the Original Trilogy. It was a huge deal for me in that and I remember when I was working with a client through a third party who worked directly through Lucasfilm, calling me to let me know that my poster was approved and after I hung up, I got a little teary-eyed.
RK: Oh, I could imagine.
IG: I’m a grown man, that gets to draw cartoons for Star Wars. That is the dream I will never get off of.
RK: Your artwork is phenomenal and it brings me back to a bygone era that I’ve never lived in, but always have longed to. Dana Snyder (Voice of Master Shake) actually adores this stuff, so I’ll try to get him onto this-
IG: Uh, he knows. We follow each other online. I sent him a Florida poster-
RK: Oh nice!
IG: It was for a convention in Florida and Dana Snyder saw it and I sent him one of these and we have a back and forth now.
RK: That’s amazing and I’m going to say, please check Ian out. Do you have any departing words for any upstart artists or—I don’t want to put you on the spot, but-
IG: I mean this whole interview was putting me on the spot! (laughs) But yeah. Just DRAW. Don’t worry about the trends and it’s hard to say don’t worry about the likes, because, you put it out there for likes, but likes don’t mean dollars. Just keep drawing. Put everything there out online, but make sure you have a presence online. Make sure you’re not just doing the art because to do this for a living because you need two halves. You need to do the art, but also have to maintain the business side to it. Be professional. Respond to e-mails. Make yourself into a brand.
RK: The work that sometimes others don’t realize is that part people don’t-
IG: You can’t just draw a picture of something and go “I hope I’m famous now!” You gotta put in a lot of work.
RK: And that is sage advice for anybody creatively. Brand yourself.
IG: Just… Do the work!
In Short…
The Garden State Comic Fest had a lot to offer, but I found a local artist that ticked off all of the boxes for something different. His art is slick. It is badass. It is circled to what made graphic design great in a Post-War time, continuing on the tradition in modern times.
In this era of so many things being assailed at us, whether it is technology, readiness, this shit is a breath of fresh air…
This Never Happened, But It Did. Let’s talk about some comic stories that never happened.
In comic book parlance, there is a type of fiction-inside-fiction. Stories that are not part of the main continuity, but nevertheless, still exist. In the Marvel Universe and the MCU, these stories are called What If’s. Though in the DC Universe, these are called Elseworlds and “Alternate Histories”. Stories like these have been told also as Imaginary Tales.
It was all Alfred’s dream
My first encounter with them came when I read the 1960 Batman #131 “The Second Batman and Robin Team” written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Dick Sprang. It’s the third of three short stories in the issue. This story essentially asks “What would happen if Batman and Batwoman had a son?”
No, the answer is not “They would have a bat-baby”.
In this story, Batman and Batwoman get married and retire from crime-fighting. Dick Grayson has now assumed the mantle of Batman. The married couple had a son named “Bruce Junior”. Bruce Junior trained to be the next Robin and convinced his parents that he should also fight crime. Things happen, chaos ensues, and it became a world of bat-wackiness. In the end, the original Batman and Batwoman pull the second dynamic duo’s fat out of the fire.
Then Alfred woke up and it was all just a dream.
It happened, but it didn’t happen at all.
Just Imagine if Stan Lee wrote for DC Comics
Yes, this happened.
Since then, there have been scores of stories that ask questions like “What if Batman were a pirate?”, “What if Superman’s rocket landed in Russia?”, “What if the Justice League began without Superman?”, “What if Thomas and Martha Kent found Superman as a baby?”, and, my favorite, “Just Imagine if Stan Lee wrote for DC Comics?”
All of these stories have been told. All these stories never happened—except they did.
Through the magic and imagination of the DC writers, when they decided to expand the DC Universe through either what they called “hypertime” or “Elseworlds” or through any of their retcons—these stories happened in some alternate dimension.
Viewers of the Arrowverse are watching some of these things happen now. After they did the television cross special “Crisis on Infinite Earths” (named after the comic book limited series from 1986), we’ve come to understand that the Smallville universe, the 1965 Batman series, the Superman Returns universe, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League universe, all exist within the same multiverse.
It’s a mix of parallel universes in a multiverse and every single “What if” scenario.
For this article, I will only talk about the DC universe.
Here are some DC stories that never happened, but absolutely did happen.
Justice
One day at the DC imagination factory someone must have asked, “Hey, remember that cartoon The Superfriends? What if we wrote a story with the Legion of Doom except this time the story would be cool and not lame?”
Okay, maybe they phrased it differently.
In any event, the story Justice, written by Jim Kreuger and Alex Ross (yes, that Alex Ross) and illustrated by Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite, brings back our expanded Justice League against a badass Legion of Doom with the Joker as a wildcard.
It’s a good story, too. It illustrates that the villain is the hero in his own story. In this case, each of the villains has had a nightmare about the end of the world. Even worse, it’s the Justice League that cause it.
So, what happens? The Legion of Doom comes up with a plan to keep everyone alive and do a major PR initiative where they are the saviors. Of course, there’s more to the twelve-part mini-series than bad guys doing good things. Because you can’t have a story with the Legion of Doom and have them NOT destroy the Justice League, there is an evil undercurrent to the overall plot.
The point to all of this is that it’s a great story that never happened in the DC continuity. It’s one that I would urge any fan of the old Superfriends cartoon series to rush and buy before a nuclear armageddon.
Son of Superman
Here is the story of Superman’s son, Jonathan Kent. No, not that Jonathan Kent… or that Jonathan Kent, either.
In this Elseworlds’ story, Son of Superman by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman takes place in the not-too-distant future. Jonathan Kent is the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Throughout most of his life, Jonathan did not have any superpowers. However, after an active solar flare erupted and brought forth aspects of his recessive genes, Jonathan became super.
This new Superman is much different than his father—who has mysteriously disappeared. He must find truth, justice, and the American way at a time when heroes and villains are not who they appear to be.
In this pre-Son of Kal-El story, we find a character who must discover his true legacy and understand that it takes a lot to fill those big red rubber boots.
Unlike the old story arc of The Saga of the Super Sons that began in Worlds Finest #215 (another imaginary storyline), this was one of the better stories that examined Superman’s potential legacy and how it takes more than great strength to be a symbol for a better tomorrow.
JSA: The Liberty Files
One of the more magical aspects of reading a good Justice Society story is understanding the mentality of that generation. A case in point is JSA: The Liberty Files. Reading through this four-part collection is like watching an old silver screen gangster movie set in the forties.
Seriously, this is full of palookas that talk hard and fast about getting the job done. It’s full of old-timey psychotics that could have been ripped right out of a James Cagney film.
However, unlike a Justice Society of America story, these tales focus on the three-member team known as “The Unholy Trio” whose members go by the code names of the Bat, the Clock, and the Owl.
We know them as Batman, Hourman, and Doctor Mid-Nite.
The story takes place during World War Two. Batman, who is usually a modern-day hero, is working as a secret agent alongside the other two. While the roster changes throughout the saga, the pacing and story will keep the reader at the edge of their seats.
This imaginary tale transforms these three mystery men into international men of espionage, each bringing a different vibe to the story. I liked it because, for the most part, each of the protagonists is a renaissance hero. Rex Tyler is the scientist who uses his Miraclo drug to transform himself into the team’s muscle. Later on, we watch characters like Ted Knight and Terry Sloane bring their talents to the team. The latter being the best champion of fair play.
I’ll be honest, I was reluctant to read this trade. I bought the book and it gathered dust on my shelf for months. When I finally cracked it open it was just a wonderful treat. The story turned out to be a lot of fun.
DC: The New Frontier
The last story was set in the forties. This one is set in the sixties.
When I say “the sixties”, I’m not talking about flower children and hippies. The sixties I’m talking about was the time when things were just cool. Reading this was like watching something written by Ian Fleming. Men who wore bow ties were slick and when the big boss of a secret agency wanted to make a presentation, part of the wall would move to make a projector screen.
DC: The New Frontier is set right around the time of the space race with Russia. It was the time when JFK said, “Let’s go to the moon.” And the rest of us said, “Why not?”
Written and illustrated by the late Darwyn Cooke, this imaginary story is visually stunning. The real meat of it takes the silver age of comics and brings it into fine relief, putting it in context with McCarthyism, the atom bomb, and the paranoia and intolerance of that era. After the JSA mystery men have been vilified, the world is hesitant about welcoming superhumans into the fold.
Heroes that have worked covertly, like Batman, adopt a reputation of being an urban myth. Paramilitary teams like The Challengers of the Unknown and the Suicide Squad work for the government. The more powerful entities, like Superman and Wonder Woman, are working with the government to police southeast Asia.
Others who have not been discovered, like the Martian Manhunter, go into hiding.
Much like JSA: The Liberty Files, this story has a flavor to it. Cooke’s art reflects both the optimism of that age along with the dark intolerance of shunning all who are different. Much of the story harkens back to the nostalgia of the silver age. In the end, the lesson learned is that we all as humanity must work together to conquer obstacles bigger than ourselves.
Reinventing Possibilities
Comic book stories and graphic novels have their own brand of evolution.
The stories that came out of the golden age were later reinvented to be modern stories of the Justice Society of America and before the retcon of Crisis on Infinite Earths, these stories that took place decades ago all were part of one parallel universe.
Back in the day, the rationale for this was to explain how Superman and Batman could have started in the 1940s and still be young and vibrant in the modern age. Hence, DC created multiple Earths. Earth-1 was all of the old golden age heroes and Earth-2 was for the modern ones. Later on, when DC began to acquire other comic book companies, like Fawcett Comics and Charlton Comics, they would just add another earth to their ever-expanding multiverse.
Then DC cleaned house. In 1986, they used this opportunity to tell more sophisticated stories and break from their innocent tales. In amalgamating its multiverse into one continuity, they lost the opportunity to make imaginary tales.
At some point, an editor or a writer must have asked, “Wouldn’t it be great to tell an impossible story?”
What would happen if Batman were a pirate on the Caribbean Sea? How about we tell a story where there’s a mirror universe where all the good guys are bad and all of the bad guys are good? What would happen if we kept going with Superman’s old continuity—how could we wrap that up?
The point of comic books is to tell good stories. Writers want to bring their imagination to this medium where they introduce stories to make people think. We buy these comic books because we want to see these ideas brought to life through their words and an artist’s interpretation of the story.
In the end, we want stories that break the rules because they entertain us.
Because everyone must really hate the Techtopian future!
It seems like now more than ever, there is a case for all things cyberpunk. A time where techno futurism is run by evil corporate interests and high tech capitalism – run amok and permeating all facets of society. We’ve seen it in 2020’s Cyberpunk 2077 and 2021’s Matrix: Resurrections. This year, we’ll see it again featured in the comics medium this May, featured in SPIDER-MAN 2099.
Written by Steve Orlando, who is joined by an all-star group of artists including Paul Fry, David Wachter, Marco Castiello, Ze Carlos, Alessandro Mercola, and Kim Jacinto, this iteration of 2099 serves as an introduction to various 2099 Marvel heroes per each issue.
In SPIDER-MAN 2099: EXODUS – ALPHA #1, Miguel O’Hara has to take on the Cabal and the sudden emergence of a Celestial Garden of Eden in the remains of the American Wasteland. It later, ties into SPIDER-MAN 2099: EXODUS #1, where fans are introduced to the Winter Solider of 2099, Then in May, in SPIDER-MAN 2099: EXODUS #2 introduces us to the new Loki 2099, who plans to resurrect Asgard.
“Roving the spinner-racks and trading cards of the early 1990s, the world of 2099 was my first future dystopia, its neon haunted visions of Marvel’s future close to my heart. And at the forefront of that future, fighting as anyone with his name always has, for the everyday folks of the future? Miguel O’Hara. Spider-Man 2099. So here, decades later, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of 2099 is a dream come true! And there was never any question who’d be the face of this celebration…your friendly, futuristic Spider-Man!” Orlando said in a statement. “And for Miguel, this fight is bigger than ever, since it’s his first time going toe to toe with one of Spider-Man’s greatest villains. Let’s make history together in SPIDER-MAN 2099: EXODUS — and lead the people of 2099 into a new tomorrow!”
Editor Mark Paniccia added, “Steve and this incredible lineup of artists not only take you on a whirlwind tour of the Marvel U of 2099, but reveal some stunning secrets and deliver a time-breaking end no fan will want to miss.”
Because One Day We’ll All Be Sky Walkers on The Cloud
There’s something to be said about the rise of the Deepfake. Technology that emulates a person’s real-life characteristics so well that it’s become harder to tell what’s real versus fiction. The scrutiny of this synthetic media technology has been a topic of interest for the past few years. First, with pornography, and then with cybersecurity, as social media applications such as Instagram can be hacked using digital video deepfake recreation of a person.
To see just advanced it has gotten, most recently, the Museum of The Moving Image featured Deepfake clips from an Emmy-award-winning documentary called In Event of Moon Disaster. In it, guests were greeted by a clip of Richard Nixon talking about the Apollo moon disaster.
Except it wasn’t Nixon. Just like how Luke Skywalker in the recent Star Wars TV Universe, are recreations created by digital technology. Last year’s Mandalorian finale – talk of the internet buzz as it was – featured a fully digitally recreated young Luke Skywalker battling a series of battle droids. In fact, most Marvel movies now use a technique called previsualization which both digitally storyboards, acts out, and emulates an actor’s lines and movements way before a shot is even filmed.
In a recent report by Esquire, details about the CGI Luke Skywalker had been revealed. Alarmingly, it was revealed that not only did they recreate Mark Hamill using digital copies overlaid on an actual actor but apparently, they had even completely reconstructed Mark Hamill’s voice using AI. Completely omitting Mark from having anything to do with his own cameo.
“Something people didn’t realize is that his voice isn’t real. His voice, the young Luke Skywalker voice, is completely synthesized using an application called Respeecher,” said Director Jon Favreau in Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Mandalorian.
Sound editor, Matthew Wood, shared in regards to Mark Hamill’s cameo, “I had archival material from Mark in that era. We had clean recorded ADR from the original films, a book on tape he’d done from those eras, and then also Star Wars radio plays he had done back in that time. I was able to get clean recordings of that, feed it into the system, and they were able to slice it up and feed their neural network to learn this data.”
BoJack Horseman once did a season-long parody where the eponymous horse wasn’t even present to shoot the movie Secretariat, in which he was the lead. Yet it was still never-the-less nominated for an Oscar in the show. We’ve officially entered that absurd Hollywood reality. What it means for actors, only time will tell.
In this week’s episode of A Discovery of Witches, the stakes are raised even higher as Matthew and Diana openly challenge the covenant and the Congregation by holding a christening for their twins. Meanwhile Benjamin goes from bad to worse as we learn that he has been kidnapping witches.
TJ Weston is Laid to Rest
After suffering at the hands of Knox in episode four, TJ Weston died with only Diana and Agatha there to mourn him. The witch apologizes to the daemon for what happened with Timothy and acknowledging that Agatha is their only truly ally on the Congregation. Diana doesn’t want the twins and Margaret to become targets and the christening is their way of rejecting the covenant. The other woman says that the historian better make sure that it works.
The Christening at Sept-Tours
Matthew, Diana, and their allies head to Sept-Tours for Rebecca and Philip’s christening and Ysabeau tells her son that this event will be viewed as an act of war. This will be the time when they’ll learn who their true friends are. The geneticist tells his mother that he has invited Baldwin even though the other man has still refused to recognize his scion.
Meanwhile Sarah has gone to visit Diana’s Temple to leave flowers for Em. While there she feels the other woman’s presence and a golden butterfly greets her in the light. It’s a beautiful moment and hopefully provides a small measure of comfort for the witch. It must be extremely difficult to return to the place where Emily had been killed.
Later on, Diana and Marthe are in the kitchen as poor Rebecca appears to be hungry again. The new mom reveals to the vampire that the baby keeps throwing up the milk though Matthew thinks that it’s too soon to worry. The housekeeper wisely says that Diana is her mother and knows what is best for the little one. Perhaps it’s not milk that she needs. Soon after upstairs, Matthew and Jack smell fresh blood and Matthew rushes downstairs where he sees his wife feeding Rebecca her slit wrist.
He asks Marthe to leave so that they can have a private conversation and he is angry. Matthew tells her that there is a reason that children are not made into vampires because you cannot reason with a two-year-old in a killing frenzy. He is worried that Rebecca has inherited more than just vampirism from him and Diana says that she can spellbind her child if needed. Matthew though doesn’t want what her parents did to her done to Rebecca. The witch adamantly defends her mom and dad, saying that they needed to do what they had to and that she appreciates that now more than ever. Diana also adds that if the children inherit blood rage, then they can teach them to control it the way Philippe did with Matthew. He apologizes and says that his action was uncalled for.
With Marcus and Phoebe also present, we learn that Miss Taylor is thinking a lot about their future. She asks him when will she become a vampire and he promises that they’ll talk about it after the christening. Looks like she wants a forever and ever type of commitment.
On the big day, almost everyone comes to attend including Miriam, Chris, Fernando, Hamish, Ransom, and Geraldine. Missing though is Gallowglass which is understandable given the circumstances. Everyone heads to the chapel where the twins are baptized by the priest and then Sarah performs the naming ceremony. We learn the full names of the babies for the first time: Rebecca Arielle Emily Marthe and Philip Michael Addison Sorley. It’s another touching moment as the elder witch realizes how Diana wanted Em to be a part of this day.
Suddenly though Baldwin appears, and everything gets heated real quick. The humans and children are quickly ushered out as chaos erupts after the head of the de Cleremont family demands that the twins need to be brought to Venice for assessment. Matthew asks his brother once again to recognize his request for a scion and is still denied. The two end up battling it out with Diana giving her husband support. She ends up displaying a great deal of elemental magic as she calls upon witch wind and witch fire as she tells Baldwin to end this or she will. He relents and she says that if any member of their scion is unable to control their blood rage she will spellbind them without hesitation. He asks what if her magic fails and Diana answers that then their scion would have failed. They would then submit to the Congregation.
This seems to soften Baldwin up and he agrees to recognize Matthew’s scion. Before departing though he tells his brother that the other vampire is now solely responsible for everyone he has sired and those sired by them, including Benjamin. Their sins are now his sins.
Sarah asks Diana in the aftermath why she didn’t use her weaver spells earlier with Baldwin and her niece comments that there would have been one that she would have used if her brother-in-law didn’t see sense. She reveals however that this was the tenth knot, the final knot of creation and destruction. Diana felt its power and believes that once she makes the Book of Life whole again, her own magic will grow even stronger. Goody Alsop’s prophecy foretold that old worlds would die and new ones would be born, that’s the battle they started today.
It’s Been Busy in Venice
Before departing for Sept-Tours, Baldwin spoke to Gerbert about the christening of his brother’s children. He told the other vampire that he would not kill the twins but would want to have them assessed. The other man seemed quite stressed out about the children of a formidable witch and a high-born vampire as being too powerful and could expose them all to humans.
In his return, the head of the de Cleremonts called for a meeting to discuss the events in France. He informs them how Matthew, Diana and their scion used the christening to break the covenant. Gerbert catches that last part and asks if Baldwin has legitimized the scion with the other vampire saying that his brother’s life is going to be more difficult as he is now responsible for the crimes of everyone in his clan. Domenico follows up with his own question as to whether the blood rage vamp has been dealt with. Baldwin once again gets political and says that it won’t be an issue any longer. When pressed he reveals that Diana will spellbind him if needed. Satu chimes in that she is a disgrace to do that to any other creature with Agatha commenting that sure that is better than being sentenced to death. The daemon adds that she understands Matthew and Diana have a relation with the boy and so surely, she would not have made that decision lightly.
Gerbert steers them back towards the topic of the children and asks when they will be brought in for review. Agatha is appalled that they would countenance the abduction of children with the vampire saying this is more of a quarantine while they assess their threat level. The daemon argues back that they aren’t weapons. Gerbert though uses the moment as an opportunity to seize power as he claims that the Congregation no longer has the discipline to counter Matthew and Diana’s campaigns. He claims that the vampires have no choice but to take these matters into their own hands.
Benjamin Constructs His Trap
Benjamin seems to have left Venice and moved on to Germany where he kidnaps a witch named Lena and takes her to a very run-down building in Poland. She is kept chained to a bed while the vampire does horrid things to her. But it seems that she is not his only prisoner as he proceeds to torture another woman Lena is able to use her magic and escape. However, Benjamin has allowed her to leave so that she can run to Matthew.
She makes her way to Sept-Tours and tells Matthew, Diana, Marcus, Sarah, and Ysabeau her story. Lena warns them that Benjamin wants to open up the truth about witches and one with the power of life and death that would let him control everything. He also apparently wants witch children and that he was infatuated with Diana. When Matthew asks her how she knew to come here, she answers that Benjamin talked about Matthew making him do these things but of course she didn’t believe him. Lena wouldn’t be here otherwise.
Matthew determines that he needs to find the other vampire and end this once and for all. Marcus says that they need to strengthen the Knights of Lazarus to protect the scion. He thinks Chris, Sarah, and Jack should join with Diana chiming in that so should Miriam. Lastly, the twins should be made members as well so that any harm to them would incur the wrath of the whole order.
Once alone, Matthew takes the jacket that Lena came with and pulls something out of the pocket. It’s a Cartier watch and when the camera zooms in, we see the inscription: To Philippe 1922. So this was Benjamin’s jacket and he had been wearing that watch before taking it off to torture the other woman as Lena escaped. This is a clever move by the vampire to bait his sire with the knowledge that he was somehow involved in Philippe’s death.
Later on, Miriam, Sarah, Chris, and Jack undertake the oath and become a part of the ancient chivalric organization. After the ceremony, Fernando surprisingly tells Matthew that he would like to be a part of their scion and to be a part of what he and Diana are creating. He would like to be right by Matthew’s side and the other responds that is where is he wanted.
Final Thoughts
There were a lot of differences in this episode from the book, but I can understand why they were made. For instance, there were many more vampires in attendance at the christening and Sarah was never made a part of the Knights of Lazarus. There are already a good number of characters introduced this season and it made sense that Sarah needed a greater community to be a part off. With Emily gone she had been helping Diana because they were family, but she’s felt adrift most of this time.
Jack being accepted by Ysabeau when he first arrived was also a beautiful moment. There must have been a lot of pressure on him on meeting the matriarch of the family and to be able to do so officially after so many years is huge. It’s clear how much he values his family, especially the twins.
Diana’s amazing display of power was so much fun to watch! She’s come a long way in learning to control her magic from season one and now she’s able to call upon them when needed. I am really looking forward to this inevitable throw down between her and Satu because the other woman is clearly super upset that Diana is getting all the attention.
I also appreciate that they didn’t just skip TJ Weston and that there was acknowledgment of what happened to him.
Phoebe telling Marcus she wants to become a vampire makes me hopeful that Time’s Convert might get adapted too! SPOILER ALERT, this is the book that focuses on Marcus’ story.
There was a big hole in my heart for Gallowglass not being in this episode 🙁
A Discovery of Witches can be streamed on AMC, Shudder, and Sundance NOW.
We got to check out the Garden State Comic Fest Winter Slate at the Rockaway Mall
The convention circuit is aswing for 2022. This time, at the Garden State Comic Fest over at the Rockaway Mall. With omicron cases finally dying down in The Garden State, now’s the perfect time to go out and support your local comic artists and conventions. Which is exactly what we at The Workprint did.
Now, having attended this convention in the past for a few years, I will admit that this relocation was refreshing. Smaller, though I really liked the quaint atmosphere. You can meet the artists, talk with the talent, try out the foam LARP weapons, and collect all the loot. All without feeling overwhelmed at just the right amount of convention.
This GSCF felt more intimate, with better-flowing foot traffic, and accessibility for those with wheelchairs and crutches, and walking sticks. Though it wasn’t overly packed compared to years previous, it certainly wasn’t empty. It is also was conveniently located across from the Mall’s food court, with plenty of tables and places to eat.
We got the chance to cover GSCC this weekend and will have some pieces about the experience. Though for those attending tomorrow, on GSCC’s last day (hours 12-5 pm EST), here are five things I’d highly recommend anybody check out.
The Here Comes Calico Comics Booth!
Image Credit: Sigma Comics
Probably the first thing that most people will see when they enter the lower floor is this booth, smack dab in the middle, dedicated to this ‘Here Comes Calico’ comic. Not only was this a surprise highlight, but the art is fantastic and interesting enough to attract visitors. The comics, surprisingly, were on sale for about 2 dollars an issue.
So what’s the catch? Well, buying a copy lets you be a superhero too. Because every issue that’s sold is partially donated to help fight animal abuse. Calico is basically what get if the punisher dressed up as Black Panther and then beat the tar out of people who abuse animals.
Well worth buying. Well worth visiting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhVASUxOM68
The Creators Booth
A graphic novel and apparel company inspired by the awesome power of imagination. What’s cool about The Creators as a comic is its premise. Where in the near future, young people across the globe gain the ability to bring their imaginations to life through their art.
Driven by the power of adolescent emotions, this power can be as equally awesome as it is terrifying, depending on those who use it.
What’s neat about speaking with Michael, is that he shared to us that much of his comic is inspired by teaching art full-time to middle school students down in Baltimore. The concept: of what if imaginations ran wild, and creativity, needed to be protected; is heavily inspired by his time working with students and wanting to help crow their creativity in positive ways.
MagCon Gaming Booth
This strange little gem can be found in the corner of the lower area of the convention, in an area where you’d least expect it. Magcon Gaming builds custom rare earth magnetics thumbs extensions and thumb-stick covers. With light, medium, and strong connectivity. It’s weirdly comfortable while still allowing for great tension. A very suitable product for gamers who love high-intensity fighting games, and most importantly, first-person shooters.
Now, I’ve reviewed a lot of games professionally. I personally hate FPS games for a slew of reasons. Especially, because of how bad my hands cramp while playing games as a 30-year-old. This product I actually think could help fix that and give me back that flexible non-arthritic edge that the kids hold the advantage over. So I’d definitely check it out.
Jason Baroody’s Table
What really sells conventions are the talent. Which is why, I thought it was dope, to have Jason Baroody’s booth right at the second-floor entrance. What I liked about meeting Jason was how friendly he seemed to be with anyone that came by. Not just about the work but also just in conversation. So much so, that when I first dropped by I sort of just perused as he was in conversation with some kids.
When I finally had a second to approach when they weren’t busy, we barely even spoke about comics. We mostly just talked about things like… Star Wars. And had a funny conversation about establishing when exactly the timeline was for Boba Fett’s age. To be honest, given the Sarlac Pitt, lack of a calendar, and the idea that time is irrelevant in a space opera less about science and more about wizardry, none of it really mattered.
To top it all off, Jason also was the penciler for Combat Jacks. A product both he and our friend, Mark McKenna, had worked on.
Amy Chu’s Table
I’m a firm believer in serendipity. And how sometimes, it’s when you really aren’t paying attention, that the biggest things sort of lie right in front of you. In this case, that something is Amy Chu. As I’d recognized her logo almost immediately from the internet.
When I spoke to Amy, we talked about how to break into comics as I’ve been struggling to figure that out for myself. With my first two graphic novels fully underway this year. I was given some great advice about the difficult reality of breaking in and had actually bought her first book to sort of see what she’d done for her first major project.
What I didn’t realize about Amy, besides the fact that she’s a fantastic advice giver and rather warm with fans, is that she’d worked on basically everything for the big publishers. Had the kind of career runs that any writer would dream of accomplishing. Amy has written for Poison Ivy and Red Sonja. Rick and Morty. Deadpool. Ant-Man. She frequently speaks across all the comic cons as a moderator. Oh, and she’d also written for Dota: Dragon’s Blood. A show that I’ve covered on other websites and even tweeted about.
You should visit Amy’s Booth and say hi and buy all the comics and if you’re lucky like I was, learn from her. That’s kind of the special thing about the more local cons… you get to really get to know the artists and writers.
Garden State Comic Fest runs at the Rockaway Mall 12-5pm on Sunday, February 7th 2022.
Beginning next month, a new lineup of women creators will be highlighted for an all-new collection of tales created by women in comics.
In March, WOMEN OF MARVEL #1 will release in stores, continuing to highlight some of Marvel’s female heroes in a collection of stories created by a lineup of women creators.
This exciting one-shot will feature works from both seasoned veterans to up-and-coming talent. Each giving their own take on beloved heroines, highlighting what it is that makes them phenomenal women. For a full list of the WOMEN OF MARVEL #1 adventures to come, here’s a list of the stories featured:
A Squirrel Girl and Black Widow team-up against a maniacal villain in a story that explores the complexities of superhero identities by Hugo award-winning writer Charlie Jane Anders and artist Emma Kubert
An action-packed Shanna the She-Devil and Silver Sable short sees the jungle ladies battle against wild animal poachers by award-winning video game scriptwriter Rhianna Pratchett and artist Alina Erofeeva
A dark Jessica Jones tale of compulsion and redemption from celebrated creator Jordie Bellaire and drawn by rising star Zoe Thorogood
A fun-filled page-flipper of Black Cat’s greatest failures and latest triumphs by novelist Preeti Chhibber and superstar artists Jen Bartel, Marguerite Sauvage, Eleonora Carlini, Ann Maulina, and Claire Roe
A story of magic and hope starring Scarlet Witch by the wildly popular creator Mirka Andolfo, making her Marvel Comics writing debut alongside artist Sumeyye Kesgin
Atop of this, to celebrate this exciting one-shot, artists Ernanda Souza, Audrey Mok, Lauren A. Brown, and Ashley Witter have turned out stunning variant covers starring Wolverine, Jubilee, Black Widow, Shuri, and more.
Check out all five covers now and don’t miss the latest must-have from the Voices pull list when WOMEN OF MARVEL #1 arrives on March 9.
Debuting in May, the team now features Wolverine, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and The Hulk
Originally featured in an issue of 1991’s Fantastic Four #347, this team-up by comics creators Walter Simonson and Arthur Adams had seen the four of the most outstanding superheroes from Marvel, as a temporary team-up of the new Fantastic Four. Loved by fans but short-lived, this team will see its surreptitious return this May.
Written by Peter David, and debuting the new artist Alan Robinson, the NEW FANTASTIC FOUR will be brought back, smack dab from moments just after the original group’s first appearance. All for a classic era story much like the hit titles of X-Men Legends, Maestro, and Silver Surfer Rebirth.
In this Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Joe Fixit (Hulk), Ghost Rider, and Spider-Man look into a surge of crime in Las Vegas, caused by some sort of demonic masterminds behind the scenes. While investigating, the story will feature some Marvel cameos including the original Fantastic Four, along with the appearance of a mysterious series of villains fans will be surprised to encounter.
“Although their original stint was extremely short-lived, the alternate version of the Fantastic Four has had its fans for years, including myself. I am fortunate Marvel has given me the opportunity to revisit with them and take their battles to new heights in a new location with new allies and new enemies,” said David retarding the original team-up and its upcoming revisit.
“Talk about debuting with a big bang in Marvel Comics!” Robinson added in Marvel’s press release. “With characters such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider and Wolverine, and written by the awesome Peter David, no less! This is a dream come true for me as an artist and as a fan, and the story gets richer with each page. A total blast!”
As a treat, fans can also look at Nick Bradshaw’s wraparound cover that features both the original and newly acclimated team. The NEW FANTASTIC FOUR arrives May 25th.
Middle schooler Monica Chowdry (portrayed by Day) wins the fictional Scribbs National Spelling Bee. She had to use all possible requests for information about the word (“definition, please,” “language of origin,” and so on), but she triumphs in the end. As a “Scramp”—Scribbs champ—she gets to make a TV appearance and becomes a local celebrity in her small suburban hometown.
Child Monica wins the national spelling bee
Fast-forward a decade or more, and we find Monica living with her mother, making money by tutoring local kids. She basically has an offer in hand for her dream job, but her top priority is taking care of her mother. Her life is on hold until her mom’s cancer gets better.
“[Past Scramps] are all doing sick shit, like working for NASA, playing pro poker, making billions off startups…” Monica’s best friend says, surely not helping with her FOMOThen her older brother Sonny comes home from California, all handsome and charming and prodigal son–like. Monica is instantly annoyed, asking their mother why she invited him here. When Sonny tries to bond with his little sis one-on-one, she works determinedly on a painting, offering monosyllabic responses and refusing to make eye contact.
As the story unfolds, we uncover more of their childhood and understand more of their current dynamic. Our sympathies bounce between the two thanks to resurfaced old memories, more present-day interactions, and exchanges with other people in town. We are cued in on her thoughts and feelings through vocabulary words that pop into Monica’s mind during certain situations. These remnants of her orthographer days are accompanied by a wash of bright color and Bollywood music, often to great comedic effect.
Monica sees some girls bullying her student and thinks, “S-P-O-L-I-A-T-O-R”
With a runtime of just one hour and 31 minutes, the film could have afforded a few more minutes of character development and exposition. However, it was an enjoyable ride overall. The more I mulled over it through the following days, the more I appreciated the complexity of the various relationships depicted.
Plus, I felt connected to the Asian-American protagonist. She loved language and words as a child, sometimes leaning on them as an escape mechanism. She participates in cultural traditions with her family, though she doesn’t really understand what people are saying and pokes fun at them with her brother. She checks out men and pursues intimacy. She wants a close relationship with her brother, but feels awkward and uncomfortable and doesn’t know how to make it happen. She isn’t a stereotype; she just is, and for that, she feels familiar in a wonderful way.
My rating: 7/10
Watch it if you enjoy: small-town dramas like Young Adult (2011) or Lady Bird (2017); stories of child prodigies struggling in adulthood
Deeper Dive (with Spoilers)
If you’ve already seen the movie or don’t mind reading spoilers, let’s talk about some of that “complexity of the various relationships.”
When I say I wish we had just a little more character development, I mostly mean it for Sonny. We never actually see him do anything bad in the past. Sure, in the present he humiliates Monica as she’s hooking up with a guy. He accidentally throws his mom to the ground when she is trying to console him during a manic episode. Presumably, there’s a lifelong pattern of incidents like that, people getting hurt or things broken while he was unmedicated and unstable. Maybe it was even catalyzed by the grief brought on by their father’s untimely death. Alas, we don’t see any of it.
What we do see of younger Sonny is his generosity in tenderly offering the last piece of mango to his younger sister (who didn’t even say thank you). The two used to put on fun shows and athletic contests, which they recreate in the modern-day. When Monica broke a precious object, he covered for her and literally took a beating for her. How did they go from there to here? Why doesn’t the family display his framed graduation picture or artwork on the fridge? It would have been so interesting to get just one dark scene from his adolescence.
There’s a stark, striking difference between the ways Monica treats her mom and her brother. Monica shows her cancer-afflicted mother unwavering devotion and love. She respects her decision not to see a doctor or seek medical treatment. Meanwhile, Sonny “only” has bipolar disorder, so Monica tells him: “You need professional help, [Sonny]. This isn’t a joke. […] I can’t be in your life if you’re not on any medication. You have to go.”
Present-day Monica pleads with her brother to leave their family’s lives
Is it because she just loves her mom more? Because Sonny has had too many destructive episodes to be forgivable or lovable? Or is it because cancer is a disease with visible effects on the body, something that elicits unconditional sympathy from others, while mental illness is invisible and carries a stigma?
Another thing I found striking was Monica’s absolute lack of anger or bitterness upon learning her mother had faked her cancer and was fine all along. It might prove that her devoted care, at least a major part of it, was an excuse to put off “real life.” She wanted to stay by her mother’s side because she was afraid of failing to launch a stellar career, of failing to meet the sky-high expectations that people have of Scramps. That’s also why she barely bats an eye when her tutee’s mother calls her a failure at life and fires her.
In the end, Monica has to reject the stigma of mental illness and accept her brother’s condition to break down the wall between them. This, in turn, unlocks something in her own mind and sets her free. She can finally “cook her noodle” as Sonny says—that is, tap into her potential and achieve her dreams. Thinking back, I realized that the word she had to spell correctly to win the spelling bee all those years ago was prophetic: opsimath, a person who begins to learn or study late in life.
Sonny climbs up to Monica’s treehouse to find everything gone, except a colander of cooked noodles
On February 14th, Marvel is launching a six-episode unscripted podcast about the history of Black Panther, hosted by NYT best-selling author, Nic Stone.
In honor of Black History month, Marvel is launching a historical podcast looking into the history of Marvel’s Black Panther. The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther is a six-episode documentary that will see author Nic Stone look at the comic’s origins of the Black Panther. All in conversations with creators who shaped T’Challa’s journey, celebrating the Afro-Futuristic world of Wakanda. While analyzing the larger social impact of the character.
The series will be made available on SXM App and Marvel Podcasts Unlimited, and later, everywhere that podcasts are available.
The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther will bring writers, artists, and historians together to talk about the tale of T’Challa. It will feature exclusive interviews with talent such as Brian Stelfreeze, Christopher Priest, Don McGregor, Joe Quesada, John Ridley, John Romita Jr. Reginald Hudin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and more.
Throughout the podcast, Stone will take a look behind-the-scenes in a definitive tell-all description of the incredible journey of T’Challa, how he came to be Black Panther, and how he and the world of Wakanda have evolved since, looking into some of the greatest moments, including Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s 1966 debut of the hero right at the height of the Civil Rights movement.
Stone will also explore Panther’s evolution throughout the Black Power Movement and examine his time during the Avengers, as well as his own comics series.
“As thrilling as it’s been to watch Marvel’s first Black superhero leap his way to the top of fan-favorite lists over the past few years, getting to dig into his origin story with the people who made him (and the characters around him) is truly the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to do,” said host Nic Stone on Marvel’s Press Release. “I can’t wait for fans to hear from the individuals who have spent almost 60 years shaping, expanding, and humanizing our beloved King of Wakanda and Black Panther, especially as his world continues to grow.”
Netflix shares some conversations had with scientists regarding their opinions on ‘Don’t Look Up’
Don’t Look Up is what you get when an ‘Inconvenient Truth’ and ‘Idiocracy’ bore a mockumentary call to action movie, where everyone went about business as usual, and absolutely nobody did much to stop it.
Directed by Adam McKay, this fictional comedy about a comet on a collision course with Earth stars Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio, who play two astronomers that go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth – only to be mostly ignored. In the weeks since it’s Dec. 24 release on Netflix, ‘Don’t Look Up’ has inspired some very serious discussions around climate change — and the need for action.
“It’s a cautionary tale about the climate crisis stitched together by McKay’s signature biting humor. That’s the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down,” Dr. Michael E. Mann, an atmospheric science professor, author, and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, wrote in an op-ed for The Boston Globe.
In an essay for Forbes, Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Director of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Atmospheric Sciences Program praised the film as “a layered commentary on the climate crisis, denialism, and the lack of action on a looming problem.”
Clearly, Don’t Look Up breached an important subject for discussion for many climate researchers and psychologists. A lot of who had projected a lot of their own sentiments regarding climate change and the need for change in the film’s main characters Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence).
Dr. Michael Svoboda, an assistant professor of writing at George Washington University, went one step further in a story for Yale Climate Connections: “Don’t Look Up has quickly become something of a cultural phenomenon, already eclipsing The Day After Tomorrow as the most influential fictional film ‘about’ climate change.”
Unlike the film, it’s not too late to change course, as climate psychologists Dr. Barbara Hofer and Dr. Gale Sinatra recently wrote in a piece for The Conversation. “The most important difference between the film’s premise and humanity’s actual looming crisis is that while individuals may be powerless against a comet, everyone can act decisively to stop fueling climate change.”
For those looking to do just that, Don’t Look Up and non-profit Count Us In recently launched a climate microsite that provides more information about the climate crisis and meaningful steps we can all take towards a safer planet. Visit count-us-in.com/dontlookup for more information.
WarnerMedia’s Streaming platform will be available in 15 additional countries in Europe
HBO Max plans on launching into 15 more European countries beginning on March 8th. Following the successful launch of HBO Max in the Nordics and Spain back in October 2021, one of the world’s fastest-growing streaming services is now expanding to the European countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
HBO Max’s phased rollout will now be at a total of 61 countries with these launches. They also have plans to expand to a further six European countries including Greece and Turkey.
“HBO Max is a new streaming experience offering the very best entertainment, movies, original series, and kids programming from Warner Bros., HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, Max Originals, and more. We are thrilled to confirm that on March 8th, HBO Max is arriving in 15 additional European countries as we continue making the platform available across the continent and beyond,” says Christina Sulebakk, General Manager, HBO Max EMEA.
HBO Max brings together new series and movies from Warner Bros., HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, and Max Originals. Its originals include Station Eleven, Peacemaker, Raised by Wolves season 2 and Sex Lives of College Girls. European Max Originals coming to the platform include Todo Lo Otro, Kamikaze, Lust, Ruxx, The Thaw, The Informant and Garcia!
Johannes Larcher, Head of HBO Max International, said: “The global roll out of HBO Max continues at pace as we launch the platform in 15 additional European countries, taking us to 61 territories worldwide. We are delivering on our strategy to go direct-to-consumer around the world which coupled with our beloved content will give us the scale needed to be one of the top global streaming platforms.”
HBO Max will be available on leading devices and platforms, including smart TVs (Samsung, LG and Android TV™), via streaming devices (Apple TV 4K and Google Chromecast™), game consoles (PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S), mobile and tablets (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android™), and online at http://www.hbomax.com. HBO Max will also be available through selected TV distribution partners. Customers will be able to pay via major providers (VISA, Mastercard and PayPal) and via in-app purchase (Apple App Store, Google Play Store and via Samsung Checkout).”
Customers will be able to pay via major providers (VISA, Mastercard and PayPal) and via in-app purchase in major markets (Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Samsung Checkout).
In what’s being called one of their biggest comic events in recent memory, Marvel’s Judgement Day is an Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals crossover.
From The Wicked + The Divine writer Kieron Gillen, and the incredible talents of artist Valerio Schiti, comes JUDGMENT DAY. A new large-scale Marvel Universe event launching this July.
In Judgement Day, the X-Men have achieved immortality as the most dominant species on the planet. However, The Eternals have uncovered a long-hidden secret – a devastating truth about mutantkind. Meanwhile, The Avengers have come into direct conflict with the Celestials and are currently using a fallen Celestial as their base of operations, slowly unlocking its secrets.
When the Eternals attack the mutant nation of Krakoa, the Avengers try desperately to de-escalate a potentially apocalyptic war. All for a three-way battle the likes of which has never been seen; as Judgement comes for all. From the greatest power, the teams have ever witnessed in the Marvel universe.
Gillen had this to say in Marvel’s Press release:
“There’s a classic metaphor to describe the Marvel Universe – a toybox, which creators take toys out of, play with and put back. I get it, but it’s never quite how I’ve seen it – I think ‘play’ in another way. I think of a music shop, with all these instruments with their different qualities suggesting different songs, different stories. For all the Marvel instruments I’ve played, I’ve never written an event. Writing an event is something different. It’s not like playing an instrument. It’s having all the instruments in the Marvel music shop. That’s not like writing a song. That’s like writing a symphony.
I looked at everything in ETERNALS and IMMORTAL X-MEN and everything else all the X and Avengers writers have done and thought… yeah, this is an event. In fact, an event is the only way to do justice to this. The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson described the music he was reaching for as Teenage Symphonies to God. I think that’s what the best Marvel Events aspire to be, and it’s what we’re aspiring to here. I want the scale. I want the heartbreak. I want a book that wears its heart on its sleeve even as it puts a fist in your face. I want something Wagnerian in its volume as emotional as God Only Knows.”
Adding onto what his partner was doing, Schiti added:
“It is great to have the opportunity to draw another Marvel event after Empyre. The difference is that last time I was just excited, but now I know how high the expectations are, so now I am both excited and a bit scared! Luckily for me, I have the great Kieron Gillen and Marte Gracia watching my back and together we can face any cosmic threat!”
For those following the story thus far, Gillen will be continuing his work in both ETERNALS and IMMORTAL X-MEN in this Judgement Day storyline. It will also, tie in together with the stories in Jason Aaron and Javier Garron’s AVENGERS run. All for a team-up of epic proportions meant to historically monument a moment in Marvel comics.
Atop of this, during free Comic Book Day on May 7th this year, fans will get their first glimpse at the JUDGEMENT DAY conflict in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: AVENGERS/X-MEN. Featuring a prelude story by Gillen and artist Dustin Weaver.
It will also mark a new Marvel hero named Bloodline, in an introduction story written by Danny Lore and artist Karen Darboe.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: AVENGERS/X-MEN #1 will be available through Penguin Random House and Diamond Comics. Check with your local comic shop regarding availability.
In many ways, Spider-Man: No Way Home is the culmination of years of the hopes and dreams of the loyal fanbase. During the Tobey era, fans kept waiting for enough buildup to result in a Sinister Six movie, with everyone’s neighborhood hero facing off against an assortment of his greatest foes. And then we had to suffer through the Garfield reboot, which didn’t even do well enough to merit a full trilogy. So it’s reasonable that most fans had probably given up on the idea of a huge movie full of iconic Spidey villains. But then we got Spider-Man: No Way Home. You can argue whether or not the rogues gallery of foes included counts as a true Sinister Six. But my bet is that it’s the closest we’re ever going to get.
No Way Home starts right after the shocking ending of Far From Home. Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio got the last laugh from beyond the grave and revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the entire world. And as usual with us humans, the huddled masses don’t take it very well. While some are sympathetic and see Peter as a hero, others can suddenly put a name to the secret identity, and want his undivided attention. Yet more see him as a menace, thanks in large part to the efforts of those like J. Jonah Jameson. The result is a stampede that suddenly surrounds Peter and MJ, which forces the two to make their escape via web-slinging. This leads to a hilarious sequence with MJ holding onto Peter for dear life as they swing through the city, screaming all the while.
Things don’t calm down once Peter makes it back home. He tries his best to keep the news from his Aunt May, but that quickly spirals out of control. Helicopters demand their attention, and a covert unit is sent to harass Peter and his friends. On the plus side, this means Spidey needs a lawyer, which leads to a fantastic cameo from Charlie Cox, AKA Daredevil from the Netflix series. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve truly missed him, and I’m glad to see Disney hasn’t forgotten about the fantastic Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.
Meanwhile, Spidey, MJ and Ned still have to attend their senior year of high school. Some of my favorite moments involved the teachers and principal fumbling in their attempts to both welcome Peter back to school and treat him with newfound deference since he’s been outed as a hero. And like any superpowered teenager, Peter flees to the roof for some peace and quiet. There’s also lots of talk between the three friends about college, and even a cute montage of them trying and failing to get into schools of their choice. Which leads to a donut house revelation that sets the whole movie on track towards the climactic finale. Peter realizes the solution to his problems might be magical in nature and thus goes to ask for a favor from our favorite mystical wizard, Doctor Strange.
Let me just say, much as I’m not a huge Cumberbatch fanboy, I love his portrayal as the good Doctor. He adds wit, charm and just a touch of humor to all his dialogue, and it makes him really endearing. One fun revelation once Peter shows up on his doorstep is that Doctor Strange isn’t actually the Sorcerer Supreme anymore, technically speaking. When he was blipped out of existence by Thanos, someone had to step in. So Wong has actually been wearing that mantle for years, and it looks to be a heavy and irritating one. When he gets some indication of what Peter and Strange are up to, he agrees to ignore it so long as he’s not bothered by their nonsense. Which turns out to be a very good choice on his part, since this simple favor quickly escalates into an existential crisis.
All Peter wants is to have the world forget that he’s Spider-Man so he can go about living his life in peace. Which is a reasonable request. The problem is, casting a spell is like wishing for favors from a genie. Context and phrasing really matters, and as Strange starts casting it, Peter realizes EVERYBODY will forget his secret identity, including his Aunt and friends. So he has Strange exclude them, and then make another tweak, and then another. It quickly starts getting out of hand, but Strange seemingly manages to contain the chaotic spell in a cube-like cage.
Meanwhile, everybody’s least favorite jock, Flash Thompson, has a possible solution for Peter’s college woes. Now that he knows Peter is his favorite hero, he’s willing to play ball. Just so long as Peter pretends to be his best friend. Our hero grudgingly agrees to his terms and goes to meet with someone that could help rekindle his college dreams, the MIT Vice Chancellor. There’s just one problem—she’s on the way to the airport. So Peter swings into action and finds her, right before everything starts to go truly insane.
Right as Peter reaches the Chancellor, the freeway is attacked by someone with metallic arms. Somehow Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, from the original trilogy, is in the wrong universe. Worse, he’s after Spider-Man and immediately identifies Peter as his nemesis. Naturally, Peter is perplexed, but that doesn’t stop him from leaping into action to stop the tentacled menace and, perhaps more importantly, protect the Chancellor from harm. It’s an epic fight scene, and just when it looks like Doc is on the verge of killing Peter, something fun and unexpected happens. I won’t ruin it, but suffice to say the nanotech in his suit wins the day, and he manages to defeat the villain right before a demented cackle disrupts the air. Before Peter can investigate, he gets magically whooshed back to Strange’s sanctum sanctorum.
Here we learn what’s really happening. Though Strange did manage to contain the worst of the spell, all the tweaks Peter made opened up cracks, and some things were drawn into this universe. Specifically, villains that hold a grudge against Spider-Man, and who would have forgotten him had the spell gone off without complications. Strange managed to capture the Lizard himself, but there’s a handful more. So he magicks Peter a gauntlet to capture the remaining wayward dimensional drifters and sets him off. Peter being Peter, he brings in MJ and Ned, and after some snarky commentary, he goes after one of the signals.
Peter comes across a waylaid Electro that’s literally stitching his atoms together spark by spark. Once he manifests himself fully, he’s suddenly hungry for energy. Something about the nature of this new universe is speaking to him, and he’s ready to absorb everything he can. It’s looking pretty bleak for Peter, until he gets an unexpected assist in the form of another villain—Sandman! Thinking this is his Peter, Sandman agrees to help him take Electro down. Through a combination of dumb luck and quick thinking, they manage to KO Electro, and both villains find themselves brought back to the cells in the sanctum sanctorum.
They’ve nearly caught all the villains, but there’s a catch. Once Peter has a full set, the spell will send them all back to their own universe, where it’s revealed they will be killed fighting Spider-Man. Peter doesn’t want that on his conscience, so he steals Strange’s magical cube (which houses the spell) and gets into an epic confrontation with the good Doctor Strange. He manages to prevail through the power of math, and traps him in a mirror dimension until he can figure out a way to save these lost souls. He releases them from their cells and heads after the last one – the Green Goblin.
For some reason, Goblin is found at the clinic Aunt May is working for. He seems to have gone back to being plain old Norman Osborn, dumping his suit and glider in the garbage. He has no idea how he got to the clinic, and is being cared for by May. Dafoe makes a very believable crazy homeless person, and his performance actually elicited some sympathy from me. Even though a much louder part of my brain kept screaming not to trust him. Regardless, this leads Peter to a revelation. He can fix everything by finding a way to help the villains rewrite their endings, and heal their mental and emotional trauma. Thus, they all get on the party bus and head to poor Happy Hogan’s place.
I should mention briefly, there’s a lot of Happy Hogan in the earlier parts of the movie. But since it’s really hard to convey humorous scenes in this format, I mostly left those out. The quick version is this—he very much wants May back in his life, and got saddled with finding a place for Peter and May to live after the government came after them. All caught up? Splendid. Now visualize 5 of Spider-Man’s most dangerous villains all camping out there with him, his friends and Aunt May.
It goes about as well as you’d imagine, though it takes a little bit of time for all hell to break loose. Peter does actually succeed in fixing the tech in Doc Ock’s harness, thus restoring his right mind and making him downright agreeable. He’s on the verge of fixing Electro with a power-dampening device as well when his Spider-Sense starts tingling. Turns out, good old Norman was actually Goblin playing possum. And he’s not gonna let Spider-Man fix any of the remaining villains. He goes on a crazy rampage, smashing Peter all about like a ragdoll and dropping him through floor after floor. It’s beyond intense, and it ends horribly. I won’t say what happens, but I will say that the incident both makes sense and yet utterly shocked me when it happened.
Afterward, Peter is downcast, and Ned and MJ are at Ned’s place. Ned discovers an artifact he filched from Doctor Strange lets him cast magic, and he starts opening up portals. The first one leads a dimensionally lost Tobey Mcguire to them. And of course, the one after that is Andrew Garfield. Again, there’s a ton of great comedy in this sequence that’s nearly impossible to replicate in a written format. Suffice to say, there’s a reason Spider-Man has remained such a popular character all these years, despite three different actors portraying him. And though I’m not a big Garfield fan, I actually appreciated what he brought to this film.
The three Spider-Man share their mutual trauma with Peter, and he realizes he has to keep fighting. They work out a plan to fix each of the remaining villains one by one. Peter then lays the bait by going on J. Jonah Jameson’s show and telling the world he’s at the Statue of Liberty, which is sure to draw the attention of his assorted villains. Thus, the team heads there and lay their trap.
The final fight scene is one of the most amazing ones I’ve seen in any comic book movie, including the Avengers movies. It’s full of amazing one-liners, terrific beat ’em ups, and some real emotional moments. When Peter and the Spider-Men finally manage to beat back all the villains, another problem raises its ugly head. Strange’s fix wasn’t enough, and now all the multiverses are going to messily fuse together. The only way to stop that is to take away the target of the original spell. So instead of the world forgetting Peter Parker is Spider-Man, now the entire world forgets who Peter Parker is.
I won’t lie, the last parts of the movie were almost depressing. Peter is all on his lonesome, and nobody remembers him, including the love of his life, MJ. If he were a weaker man, this would have been the part of the movie where he became a villain. But Spider-Man has always been about an everyday guy fighting against adversity and helping the people. So he manages to get back on his feet. I’m really excited to see where Tom Holland’s Spider-Man goes next, especially since 3 movies is the most any of the iterations have gotten. I’m also a bit hopeful that we might have the opportunity to tell the symbiote saga properly if he gets a couple more movies. But regardless, Spider-Man: No Way Home is an incredible movie, and easily one of my top 3 Spider-Man films. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and remedy that. You won’t be disappointed.
All-star artists celebrate 30 years of Carnage with all-new variant covers this March
He’s been called The Bleeding King, The Gore Emperor, and even Your Friendly Neighborhood Carnage, now celebrating 30 years of comics, Marvel is proud to release a whole new series of variant covers!
Prepare to scream as your favorite Marvel heroes become new hosts of the Carnage symbiote in brand-new illustrations by all-star artists including Francesco Manna, Dan Panosian, Humberto Ramos, and David Nakayama. These brilliant—and terrifying–new symbiote designs will adorn the covers of Marvel’s hottest ongoing comic series.
On Sale 3/2
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #91 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by HUMBERTO RAMOS
FANTASTIC FOUR #42 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by MIKE ALLRED
MOON KNIGHT #9 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by DAN PANOSIAN
STRANGE #1 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by FRANCESCO MANNA
X-MEN #9 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by RON
On Sale 3/9
CAPTAIN CARTER #1 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by JEN BARTEL
ETERNALS #10 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by KYLE HOTZ
STRANGE ACADEMY #17 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by PEACH MOMOKO
THOR #23 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by RAHZZAH
On Sale 3/16
AVENGERS #54 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by GREG SMALLWOOD
CAPTAIN AMERICA/IRON MAN #5 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by KENDRIK “kunkka” LIM
GHOST RIDER #2 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by PHILIP TAN
RECKONING WAR: TRIAL OF THE WATCHER #1 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ
On Sale 3/23
AVENGERS FOREVER #4 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by STEPHANIE HANS
IRON MAN #18 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by JEFF JOHNSON
SHANG-CHI #10 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
SHE-HULK #3 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by SKAN
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HULK #5 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by JONBOY MEYERS
IMMORTAL X-MEN #1 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by TBA
MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #39 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by TBA
SILK #3 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by INHYUK LEE
SILVER SURFER: REBIRTH #3 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by PAOLO SIQUEIRA
SPIDER-WOMAN #21 CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVER by DAVID NAKAYAMA
Check out the first batch now and stay tuned for many more CARNAGE FOREVER VARIANT COVERS to be revealed in the coming weeks! If that wasn’t enough, there is also a whole new Carnage comics series to debut in 2022.
We’ve seen everything from an invisible car to a rainbow piano. We’ve seen the white privilege versus the black struggle. What we haven’t seen from Atlanta (FX) yet, is what lies outside of the good ole’ Red, White, and Blues.
Welcome to Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66DFHYGgNw
In this first teaser, the fears and anxieties are backdropped by Sun Ra’s discordant chant to raise the tension. Paper Boi knows what he wants, and, contrary to his namesake, it just might be sanity, not money. A GOLD fish out of the water with a few months to count on for coin, spitting sick shit isn’t going to just EARN him the top spot on any Glastonbury yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nynDxkGWnh4
This other one seems to hit all the marks. The color grade is desaturated, the smiles are certainly toeing that line of happy and awkward, and Earn (Donald Glover), Van (Zazie Beetz), Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry), and Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) are as in the dark as the commercial is in with brights lights.
Backed with the spotless Scandinavian cover of Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean,” none of them seem to be in their element and that is the point for this season.
LAST WE LEFT OFF:
Paper Boi’s on the rise, all thanks to Earn, who tried his damndest to leave his friend with a bit of wiggle room to spread his wings. After the whole shit show at their last gig which left him a bloody face more and a laptop less, it can only go sideways.
That’s what planes do, though, right? They only go up then sideways…until they invariably go—DOWN.
With Earn’s golden gun (not a euphemism) in the rival rapper, Clark County’s hands, this sturdy sort can’t sleep easily on a plane because they’ve never been on before that is surely a preamble to that bumpy ride. Al knows and respects the game. He knows, “at any cost” is the operative term, but do his cohorts?
The only catch and there’s sometimes only one that could unravel it; Clark (RJ Walker) takes a seat and lays the blame of his gun on his manager, Luke.
WE ARE APPROACHING ALTITUDE:
Van is going to her mother’s and farther from Earn, with kin in the palm of her hands. Earn wants to provide and make something better for himself and for them as a whole, as a family. It’s within that drive where something is within grasp, but without a net, he jumps still. It’s do-or-die and good as they may be, airplanes just don’t have a barf bag for the soul. Oh, I’m sure, what’s to spill out mentally and emotionally is way more hardcore than what would rocket throughout their stomachs and out of their lips, including secrets.
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS AND RETURN YOUR TRAY TABLES TO THEIR UPRIGHT AND LOCKED POSITION:
This is where it gets tricky. You haven’t even an inch to catch your breath. All it is commanding is a landing. In a new land. In new environs. This will be where new opportunities come to play, new failures come to pass, and new friendships are bolstered as well as fractured. The only catch is, these guys only know what was brewing back at base. That’s small potatoes from their big Peach.
From both seasons of Atlanta, I’ve seen, from “B.A.N.” to “Teddy Perkins”, from “Champaign Papi” to “FUBU”, and this series never ceases to inspire.
There’s but one request I have for the writers, cast, and crew: keep doing what you are doing.
What they’ve taught me is that nothing is off-limits and everything is in play.
It’s a new continent and it’s open season. What can go wrong, will go wrong, isn’t that the bromide?
Oh no, wait, that’s Murphy’s Law.
Well, that shit just chartered a flight into the unknown, so, let’s see where the Math takes us on March 24th…
While at the 
One day at the DC imagination factory someone must have asked, “Hey, remember that cartoon The Superfriends? What if we wrote a story with the Legion of Doom except this time the story would be cool and not lame?”
One of the more magical aspects of reading a good Justice Society story is understanding the mentality of that generation. A case in point is 
The last story was set in the forties. This one is set in the sixties.
