Walking Dead, Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, New comics

New comics!

Rorschach 6

I don’t remember enough about what’s gone before to know where this comes in the timeline of the story.  The letter exchange between Laura and WIl is fine enough, as are the snippets of the presidential debate, but this is one of the slighter issues of the series so far.

Taskmaster 4

More fun than the previous issue.  The fight between Taskmaster and Okoye is well done, and I like how Taskmaster was constantly thwarted in his attempts to look at her.  (He can’t copy her movements until he sees her.)  One issue to go, looking forward to his showdown with Black Widow.  

Walking Dead 97-193

For the majority of my time reading this series, I’ve been giving the issues a Pretty Good rating.  But I’ve had to change my assessment after finishing the whole run - My collection initially ended with issue 168 (The emotional death of Andrea).  But I had to know what happened next, and bought the last four trades to finish up the story.  (That doesn’t contradict the Wouldn’t buy again rating; I wanted these issues to finish up the collection.  But were I to lose my whole collection, I wouldn’t buy Walking Dead over again.)  

In the final analysis, I tore through the last 97 issues of the story in 3 days; There’s no way a comic that’s only ‘pretty good’ can grab my attention like that.  A couple of final thoughts about Walking Dead:

There are few villains in comics as compelling as Negan.  An amazing job of writing by Robert Kirkman to make him so sympathetic after the horrors he’s performed.  George RR Martin’s the only other writer I can think of off the top of my head who can do that so well.

The spreadsheet I made keeping track of all the deaths.  (I stopped after TPB 28.)  Kirkman killed 68 out of the 111 characters I tracked.  The majority of the survivors were introduced at around the halfway point of the series (The discovery of The Hilltop).  

The introduction of the Commonwealth was a little too far fetched for me; That society was way too developed from what we’d seen up until then.  

The status of the world in the flash forward, which was as implausible as the Commonwealth, still felt earned.  I was ready for the happy ending after so many issues of death.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good 

Archer and Armstrong 1-4

Moving on to the Valiant comics in my collection.  (Except for Ivar, Timewalker, which somehow wasn’t grouped with them.)  Archer, which has the same creative team as Ivar, elicits pretty much exactly the same comments - Well done humor, good action, interesting plot, but not enough to keep me reading.

(Archer reads as a clone of Connor Hawke, which is a point for, not against, the series.)

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Bloodshot 1-4

An entertaining but forgettable story about a superpowered agent rebelling against the government that created him.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Walking Dead, Movies

Liberator

Caught this show on Netflix.  The rotoscoping effect was used to cut down on production costs, and I really like the atmosphere that it creates for the series.  It’s a nice parallel piece to Band of Brothers, very much in the same vein.  It could stand to be just as long - four episodes isn’t nearly enough to capture everything that Felix Sparks did in his over 500 days of combat.  

The scene that stood out the most to me is the one with George Patton.  Peter Woodward gives a spectacular performance, absolutely stealing both the scene and the entire show for me.  (I’ve gone back to watch it multiple times.)  The way he snaps and bites off words is riveting.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Walking Dead 37-96

I’ve been making a list of the truly shocking moments in the series as I come across them.  I’m noticing that they’re all the things that I still remember from my first time through - Rick getting his hand cut off, Carl losing his eye.  And of course, Lori and the baby getting shot.

I remembered the moment, but I’d forgotten how horrible it truly is.  It left me emotionally gutted.  It’s made worse by Rick’s beautiful scene with Judith from the previous night, which speaks to me on a totally different level now that I’m a dad.  

After that, the series has basically lost some of its emotional force.  I don’t care as much about what happens to these people anymore.  It’s probably what a lot of these characters feel, but I don’t have to die to make it stop…

Also, Negan is coming up, and I’m kind of dreading it, to be honest.  Talk about brutal, memorable moments. 

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good (Really good for issue 48)

Walking Dead, New Comics, Movies

New comics!

Black Cat 3

Lots of fun.  Standard “resist temptation of infinite power” plot, but Jed MacKay makes it a fun ride.

Captain Marvel 26

Great ending for a fun Elseworlds story.  Even better is the effect it has on Carol’s life - She breaks up with Rhodey because she isn’t the mother of his future daughter.  It’s a time travel twist that I haven’t encountered before, and it’s an intriguing one that’s sad and thought provoking.  

Movies that I’ve been watching:

Straight Up

An entertaining romcom where the ostensibly gay protagonist explores a nonsexual romantic relationship with a girl.  A few things that stood out to me: 

The dialogue is sparkling and hilarious on the same level as the best Gilmore Girls episodes.  (Fitting, considering their first conversation is about that show.)  I wish that there was more exploration of Rory (Katie Findlay), there are hints of a traumatic past that were teased but never fleshed out.  I don’t know why all the supporting characters were so convinced that Todd’s gay, I would have preferred more possibilities for his sexual confusion; It would have brought a much more interesting, less seen dimension to the film.

Great performances by Findlay and writer/actor James Sweeney, which make this worth watching.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Booksellers

A documentary about the rare book selling business in New York City.  It delivered exactly what I was looking for going into it.   I love documentaries like this, exploring a fascinating corner of the world that I’ve never explored before.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

The Farewell

Finally got around to watching this a couple of years after the initial release and hype.  Given what I knew going in (Awkwafina returns to her birthplace in China to say goodbye to her terminally ill grandmother (who doesn’t know she has cancer)), there are absolutely no surprises through the whole film.  That said, it feels remarkably authentic and Chinese.  All of the characters feel real, with no hint of “acting” from the performers.  These are all people that could be family members of my own.  

The culture clash between East and West over the ethics of not telling the elderly patient is one that I’ve gone through myself.  (I still don’t know where I come down on the issue.  It’s probably a situational thing for me.)

I’m glad I watched it, but it wasn’t the unforgettable experience I’d read about.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice  

Map of Tiny Perfect Things

There have been a lot of time travel movies lately.  This offering from Amazon Studios takes the teenager romance track.  Kyle Allen and Kathryn Newton are a most adorable pairing.  (Their first kiss is awfully sweet.)  They both pull off the long-take perfect day scenes like choreographed, graceful dancers.  The pseudo-twist where this is actually Newton’s story and not Allen’s forces a nifty re-examination of the film. 

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Walking Dead 1-42

Not a lot to say about this.  I bought this series as each trade came out, every six months or so.  Every time, I’d be enthralled by Kirkman’s ability to write gripping situations and his mastery of the cliffhanger.  But I eventually stopped buying it with the 28th (!) volume.  That’s how long it took me to get sick of the cycle: Rick finds a seemingly safe place to stay.  Something goes wrong, people die, and he moves on to the next location.  Each “episode” is well-crafted, but the repetitive nature of it finally wore me down.  All the cruelty, death, and endless grind proved to be too much.  And while that may be what the characters all feel as well, I at least had the option of getting out without dying a grisly death.  

I’m going into this expecting to cut this from my collection; I haven’t ever wanted to re-read this, and the 28 books are just taking up shelf space.  But 6 volumes in, I’m certainly engaged and can’t bring myself to get rid of them.  But there’s plenty of story to go.  

To keep myself occupied, I’m keeping track of all the deaths in the storyline in a spreadsheet.  I’m curious to see how it looks by the end of it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good