New comics

New comics!

Frankenstein 1-4

This was an iFanboy recommendation.  Michael Walsh fleshes out the Universal classic with a moody, gorgeous work that’s definitely worth the pickup.

Ultimate Spider-Man 13

Ohhh, so it was the AI that was impersonating Peter at the end of last issue.  I would never have caught that if it wasn’t in the recap page, not a good thing.  This is still so good.  

Black Canary: Best of the Best 3

More fighting.  Batman shows up in the flashbacks.  This really felt like a filler issue, never a good sign, especially in a limited series.

Fantastic Four 28

Prelude to One World Under Doom.  This is pretty filler as well, but I’m still curious to see what Ryan North does with his first (?) Marvel event book. 

Detective Comics 1093

I will always bring up Mikel Janin first on this title.  He’s so fricking good.  But Tom Taylor’s finally kicking it into gear with the plot, and there’s a devastating ending with a rare fail for the Caped Crusader.  

Wonder Woman 17

Sometimes it’s nice to see the good guys kick the crap out of the bad guys.  And the parallel storyline with Diana talking with her baby is sweet and adorable.

Absolute Wonder Woman 4

Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman have something so special on their hands here.  This is pure magic, reminding me of nothing less than Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  

Fortune and Glory: The Musical

I was really looking forward to this.  Couldn’t wait to see Brian Michael Bendis’ take on Broadway and his experience on the infamous Spider-Man musical.  If I’d only known that his experience amounted to little more than a meet-and-greet with Julie Taymor and two phone calls, comprising maybe five percent of the graphic novel.  The rest is a biography of Bendis’ early life and how he broke into the comic book industry.  It’s not bad, but not at all what I wanted out of this.  A major disappointment made worse by the false advertising. 

The Class, Welcome to Pawnee

My dad asked why I didn’t review the books I read on this thing, and I had no good answer.  So here we go!

The Class

My reading time is generally limited to whenever I’m eating by myself - lunchtimes, midnight snacks, and the like.  If I have something new to read, that’s when I do it.  If I’m between books, I turn to the volumes that have been on my bookshelf for years.  These are the books that have survived the cullings necessitated by the birth of my daughter and the need to make room for changing stations and art tables.  A lot of Tom Clancy, Star Wars novels, and war histories.  

There’s also Erich Segal’s Doctors, a mainstay since high school.  Super re-readable, and the last time I went through it, I thought I’d check out something else that he’s written.  (I’ve already read Love Story, which made me cry back in college.  Haven’t seen the movie.)  The Class is basically Doctors but with Harvard students, which sounded perfect.

It follows all the same beats as Doctors, but with no females in the main ensemble of characters.  (I think because Harvard didn’t have any female students in 1958.)  It’s engaging enough, and Segal does a nifty trick in making most of the chapters super short.  (Like three or four pages.)  So I was compelled to read “just one more chapter” over and over.  It’s like a gatcha game.  

I was nonplussed by every character’s inability to stay faithful to their wives.  It made it really hard to feel sympathy for any of them, despite the struggles that they each had to go through.  And the book somewhat arbitrarily ends with their 25-year reunion with a bit of a whimper.  

Not as good as Doctors, but not a waste of my time, either.  

Regret reading: No

Would read again: Yes

Would buy: No

Rating: Nice  

Welcome to Pawnee

Jim O’Heir, Jerry on Parks and Recreation, writes about his experience on the show.  Parks is one of my favorite tv shows ever, so this was an easy pickup from the library shelf.  (Shout out to libraries, it’s how I read most of my books.)

This is pretty run of the mill.  It doesn’t really add to my appreciation for the show; O’Heir loved his time there, everyone was a great big happy family, yadda yadda.  Which is great to hear, but I didn’t need to read a whole book to learn that.  

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy: No

Rating: Fine

New comics

More new comics!

Battle Action v3 2

I don’t know why I can’t quit Garth Ennis war stories.  By this point, they all blur together, and it’s really hard for one to set itself apart from the crowd.  (Including this one.)  But I’ll keep buying them for as long as he puts them out.

Jupiter’s Legacy: Finale 3

Just playing out the string.  That’s all I’m doing.

Batgirl 3

Some really nice action from Takeshi Miyazawa.  Still don’t know what Shiva’s motivations are, which is how it should be.

Absolute Batman 4

Scott Snyder continues to kill it as we get a little more of Bruce’s origin story.  It’s too bad Nick Dragotta isn’t here to do the art.  Gabriel Walta is fine, but it’s just not the same.

Absolute Superman 3

More origin material, and Jason Aaron’s finally sunk his teeth into me.  He provides a sympathetic, engaging portrait of Kal-El and his parents  on Krypton, which will surely make their inevitable separation all the more heartbreaking.  Great stuff.

DC vs Vampires: World War V 6

Darkseid shows up in the middle of a major throwdown.  Matthew Rosenberg keeps tossing in more elements, and he continues to make it work.

Question: All Along the Watchtower 3

Wow, I lost enthusiasm for this rather quickly.  I really wish I liked this more, the potential is certainly there with Renee and Batwoman.  But the Eradicator, Cyborg Superman, a mystery I don’t care about - it’s not happening for me.

Birds of Prey 17

I gave it another story arc, but this still doesn’t have it.  Kelly Thompson is always pushing up against the awesome barrier, but more often than not fails to break through.  (She does have her moments, though.) 

New comics

Always catching up w/ new comics.

Black Canary: Best of the Best 2

Black Canary continues to get her ass kicked by Lady Shiva as we flash back to her training regimen for the bout, mentored by her hard-as-nails mother.  Solid, straightforward storytelling from Tom King.

Question: All Along the Watchtower 2

This is comfort food comics.  Nothing I’ll remember after it’s over, but something I’ll enjoy coming back to years from now.

Absolute Wonder Woman 3

Holy crap is this good.  The thing with the arm!  This feels so new and special, I love it.

Wonder Woman 16

Tom King is having so much fun w/ Detective Chimp here, and I’m right there with him.  Detective Chimp.  Someone I did not expect to see in this comic.

Absolute Batman 3

Almost up there with Absolute Wonder Woman.  This feels old and new at the same time, some magical alchemy of Dark Knight Returns drawn by Batman: Year One’s David Mazzucchelli with another topping of Elseworlds.  Can’t wait to read more.

Plastic Man No More! 4

I so regret getting this.  Will keep it around, but full expect to cut this next time around.

Birds of Prey 16

Cassandra Cain die-harding it up is a fun read.  I think I’ll keep getting this w/out a sub, flip through it first in the store.  

Ultimate Spider-Man 12

An old-school “the good guys get a month off to celebrate a holiday with their loved ones” issue.  WIth a final twist that completely worked on me.  Jonathan Hickman continues to outkick his coverage.

Battle Action vol 1, 2

War story anthology collections, led by Garth Ennis.  I got these mostly for his Johnny Red stories.  They’re fine.

Conclave, Furiosa, Grand Maison Tokyo

Conclave

Lots of fun intrigue with a top notch cast.  A worthy diversion for an evening, but nothing more.  

Worth watching: Yes

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Furiosa

I thought I wanted this a lot more than I really did.  Mad Max: Fury Road is a true masterpiece, but I rarely want to rewatch it.  (Though I never regret it when I do.)  It’s such an assault on the senses, and it’s emotionally exhausting to watch.  (Something I never thought I’d say about an action flick.)  

So with Furiosa, I found myself weary of the despair and bleakness of the world, and found it a lot less enjoyable than its predecessor.  I thought Anya Taylor-Joy made for a fine Furiosa, really liked Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack, and found Chris Hemsworth too campy of a villain.  The action scenes were pretty good, the one w/ the flying contraptions was spectacular.  

Worth watching: Yes

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Grand Maison Tokyo

A super, super cute show where a ragtag bunch of top-notch chefs form a restaurant with the aim of earning a Michelin star.  This is a delightful, heartwarming show that I’ll definitely come back to at some point in the future.

Worth watching: Yes

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Really good

Agatha All Along, Deadpool/Wolverine, Acolyte

I’ve got a massive backlog of movies/shows that I’ve been wanting to review.  Let’s see how much I remember of some of these.

Agatha All Along

I think this is the first MCU show that I haven’t watched as it came out on a week-to-week basis.  I had little interest in Agatha as a character, even with the wonderful Kathryn Hahn in the lead role.  (“Poncho!”)

I binged this with my wife while on vacation over three nights.  Thoughts:
What I liked:

• Patti LuPone.  I know her as Broadway royalty, though I haven’t seen her in anything.  She’s wonderful here, and her spotlight episode is the best part of the show.  Her character arc is the most compelling, and it ends with a satisfying poignancy.

• The Salem Seven.  At least with how creepily they were portrayed.  Horror-lite, which is the best way I like my horror.  (I’m a wimp.)  They were handled way too easily.  Negative satisfaction on that front.

• I’m looking at the cast pics for the Salem Seven, and they’re all gorgeous model-types.  Why???  They were cloaked and masked in black the whole time.

• The first performance of The Witches’ Road.  Haunting with lovely harmonies.  

• Agatha’s relationship w/ her son.  Because I’m a parent and a sucker for these kinds of things now.

• Sasheer Zamata.  “Isn’t that the person from SNL??”  Did not expect to see her in a dramatic role, but she acquitted herself nicely.

• Aubrey Plaza.  She always plays Aubrey Plaza.  But in the right roles, that’s all that’s needed.  

• Between Billy, Agatha, and Rio, this is the most LGBTQ representation I’ve ever seen in the MCU.  I hope they keep going in this direction.  

What I didn’t like

• Not a fan of Joe Locke’s performance as Teen.  He annoyed me for most of the show, until his origin story in the penultimate episode.  He got a lot better after I understood his motivation.  Though I wish they spent more time w/ how traumatic it is to be a 13-year old trapped in the body of a 16-year old.  (And he started out as a 10-year old!  How is he making it through school?  He’s making out w/ a 16-year kid!  It’s Big all over again!)

• The Wiccan costume did not translate well to the screen.  Looked like bad cosplay.

• Hahn is generally wonderful, and the campiness is intentional.  But sometimes it was too much for me.

• Debra Jo Rupp.  Will always love her for Friends, but she annoyed the crap out of me here.

• I don’t buy the team up at the end.  It wrapped things up too easily.

I was never entertained, but I will never want to watch this again.  (Maybe the Lilia episode.)  I don’t need a second season, but I’d be happy enough to see Wiccan and his found-brother in a Young Avengers movie/show.

Worth watching: Yes

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Fine

Updated MCU TV rankings

1. Hawkeye

2. She-Hulk

3. Wandavision

4. Ms Marvel

5. Falcon/Winter Soldier

6. Loki

7. Agatha All Along

8. Echo

9. Moon Knight

10. Secret Invasion

Acolyte

Things I liked:

• Manny Jacinto.  By far the best part of the show.  I want a show with him as the main character, going around the universe corrupting the good and kicking ass.

• The lightsaber battles were super tight.

• Wookie jedi!

• Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi.  She’s so badass, I wanted more of her in action.

• Ahmed Best.  So good to see him back in the Star Wars universe.  Hopefully it was a better experience this time around.  I don’t blame him at all for Jar-Jar.

Things I didn’t like:

• Lee Jung-jae.  I haven’t seen Squid Game, so this is my first exposure to him.  I found him to be wooden and didn’t sympathize with him at all.  Didn’t buy him as a Jedi master.

• The twin protagonists.  Didn’t care about either of them at all.  

• The story wasn’t interesting enough to warrant the Rashomon format.  This wasn’t worth watching once, let along multiple times.

• So much of this series was filler.  It could have been cut down to half its length and still served its purpose.

I’m not sorry this was cancelled, but I am sad we may never see Jacinto wield a lightsaber again.

Worth watching: Yes (barely)

Would watch again: No (except for the fight scene on Youtube)

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Deadpool & Wolverine

Things I liked (this is off the top of my head 6 months after seeing it)

• Hugh Jackman.  He will always be great in this role, selling the humor, the action, and the pathos.  The guy can do it all.

• All of the Wolverine variants.  Loved.

• Ryan Reynolds.  As perfect for Deadpool as Jackman is for Wolverine.  Period.

• All the cameos.  X-23, Blade, Gambit, Elektra, Torch, Yukio! - every single one of them elicited a joyful clap of the hands.

• Emma Corrin.  One of the best MCU villains I’ve seen, she was genuinely scary.  (Those fingers in the brain!)  Corrin oozed charisma, and I would love for her to be the overarching big bad in the upcoming X-Men movies.  (Would never happen, though)

• The humor was what I expected, and I laughed through most of this.

• Perfect post-credits tag.

Things I didn’t like

• This movie ruined “Like a Prayer” for me.  I love that song, and I can’t hear it w/out thinking of this film anymore. 

• The movie runs out of steam.  I was ready to tap out by the time the Deadpool army showed up.

This needs a rewatch, but I still have pleasant memories of this film.  

Worth watching: Yes

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Updated MCU rankings

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Shang-Chi

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron

8. Ant-Man/Wasp

9. Avengers

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Captain America

12. Dr Strange 2

13. Thor: Love and Thunder

14. Spider-Man: Far From Home

15. Iron Man 2

16. Black Widow

17. Black Panther

18. Iron Man

19. Ant-Man

20. Dr Strange

21. Deadpool & Wolverine

22. Iron Man 3

23. Thor 3

24. Captain Marvel

25. Thor

26. Thor 2

27. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

28. Guardians of the Galaxy

29. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

30. Guardians of the Galaxy 3

31. Hulk

32. Eternals

33. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania