It might be the end of the year but the stories are in full flow.

Superman launches and abandons a rescue mission, Jaime Reyes reveals how the scarab bonded with him, the Justice League are tricked into servitude, Constantine tries to help a dying Alec Holland. Donny is on the run as Vigilante and Diana Prince, spirals into a tormenting breakdown…

See? It really is the Happy Holidays?

This is my look into the DC Universe this week!

ACTION COMICS #970
Men of Steel: Part 4
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Pat Zircher
Cover: Pat Zircher & Arif Prianto
Variant: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson

Superman soars through a portal to Nideesi struggling with his conscience. He knows the Luthor from his world was the epitome of evil but despite that, this Earth’s Lex might not be, furthermore are vague visions of the future enough to sentence a man to death?

Clark decides not and breaks into Luthor’s prison cell but L’Call and Zade had anticipated the attempt and take Superman on.

With the aid of their technology they make Clark watch how Darkseid devastated their world once and murdered L’Call’s family.

Though Superman is sympathetic he still stands fast that Luthor has committed no crime. L’Call protests that Lex is clearly on the same rise to power and evil.

The Priestess, Ch’Aar appears and insists that they show Superman one final piece of evidence that Lex and Darkseid are in league with one another and Zade produces a Mother Box. Only Apokoliptians and their closest allies have them and Lex had one hidden in his armour.

The citizens sentence Luthor to death and Ch’Aar pleads with Superman to think of the future, Lex lied about having Apokoliptian technology and it wasn’t the first time he has bent the truth, with a Mother Box in his hands what good could possibly come of it in the future?

Superman is shocked but realises the heartfelt plea of the Nideesi to be true and too close to what he’d always thought of the Luthor family. Instead of a rescue he too reads a verdict of… GUILTY!

To Be Continued…

ART: 5/5
There may not be as majestic a depiction of Superman from Patch Zircher this issue as the last but that doesn’t mean anything is delivered in half measures. The bulk of the issue is taken up with L’Call and Zade once more and though they are compelling, they aren’t Lex or Clark. One thing that Zircher does however is allow the story of Lex Luthor’s trial to expand further which is much needed in light of the evidence.

COVER: 3/5
The sideshow of art is one familiar to British audiences as one of those romantic comedy montages where you have more guest stars than plot. Individually the panels work but as an ensemble they really don’t. As an in-house print ad it sells the story but as a cover, there just isn’t enough ‘meat on the bone.’

ISSUE RATING: 5/5
Clark is right, the crimes are a vision, they haven’t happened. Whatever Lex may be, he isn’t an interstellar mass murderer, not yet and the argument the Nideessi put forward however heartfelt is still not a valid one. It’s a moral dilemma and like many others it calls into question the ‘Should you kill Hitler as a baby, if you could?’

The fact Clark’s judgement is clouded because of his past experiences with an alternate Lex means perhaps he isn’t the best deciding vote. He agrees to the verdict upon presentation of a Mother Box but there are more questions to be answered first and despite the climax I suspect it might just be a fake out.

Clark Kent is nobody’s fool. Not even the doppelganger!

BLUE BEETLE #4
My Not So Secret Origin
Writers: Keith Giffen & Scott Kolins
Artist: Scott Kolins
Cover: Scott Kolins
Variant: Cully Hamner

A year ago, Doctor Fate was tracking a mystical artifact in Ciudad Juarez, unfortunately his quest met with failure but a year later in El Paso, Jaime Reyes adventure was just beginning.

The girl who’s been following Jaime and his friends for the past few months is forces to introduce herself after Brenda gets fed up and Naomi finally ‘meets’ Jaime for the first time.

Later Jaime heads to Kord Industries for tests on the scarab and his altered physiology. Jaime tells of a September day during the school holidays when he, Brenda and Paco were down by the river. How they spotted the scarab floating in the water, but rejected both Paco and Brenda violently, somehow finding Jaime the perfect host.

Offsite, Ted Kord analyses the data only to find the scarab is mutating Jaime on a cellular level and can never be removed. He thinks back to his earlier days himself. How he had toyed with fighting crime using his technological skills. His neighbour, a collector of antiquities, had shown him the scarab as a recent acquisition but just like Jaime, it called to him to bond as a host.

To Be Continued…

ART: 4/5
There is a lot of line work this issue, some it feels, a little unnecessary considering the established style already in the book. Maybe as it is an ‘origin’ there is a little give in my critique but I’d like it to settle back into the vibrancy that I’m used to from Kolins.

COVER: 5/5
This cover has a very filmic feel to it. I really dig the vibe that Koblins is going for with it. There is definitely an epic ‘first issue’ energy to is and though it feels odd four issues in I really love it.

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
Weird to have the origin in a flashback framework running through the already progressing storyline, but it allows for a little give and take with the narration and also allows for Ted Kord to have at least a little of his beginnings explored.

I don’t favour Kord or Reyes yet and I know we are supposed to be opening up to them coming as a package, I’m just not there yet and the spectre of Doctor Fate hovering in and out of the story without actually being part of it is starting to become an irritant.

I would just like the book to begin having some faster, short term stories to push Blue Beetle forward.

JUSTICE LEAGUE vs SUICIDE SQUAD #2 of 6
Chapter Two
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Inker: Sandu Florea
Cover: Tony S. Daniel, Mark Morales & Alex Sinclair
Variant: Terry & Rachel Dodson, Amanda Conner & Laura Martin

Waller threatens the Squad to fight but they are all an equal match.

An offhand comment by Batman inspired Deadshot to disband the Squad, thereby also disbanding the League into weaker combatants.

Elsewhere, Maxwell Lord is still trying to convince the escapees from The Catacombs into teaming up top kill Amanda Waller.

Maxwell Lord explains that the Justice League are so busy fighting Task Force X that they have left Amanda Waller vulnerable for them,

Superman has chosen Enchantress as a foe, while Killer Frost takes Cyborg, Baz & Cruz are chasing El Diablo, Captain Boomerang is fighting Flash, Aquaman is after Killer Croc, Batman is against Deadshot and Harley Quinn is trying to outsmart Wonder Woman.

The match ups are even on both sides except for Superman. June’s mystical powers knock out Clark and Amanda forces Killer Frost to steal his life force to boost her powers. The resulting flash freeze of her power combined with Superman’s freezes everyone solid but when the Justice League reawaken they find themselves now recruited to the Suicide Squad!

To Be Continued…

COVER: 3/5
A much weaker cover than the last and considering it is the lead off of the first issue I’d have hoped for them pulling out all the stops. The villains just seem to come across as petulant rather than dangerous or threatening. Sidelining the epic fight inside for something so generic seems like a mistake to me. It is illustrated well but the urgency, the epic feel, the danger, it just doesn’t feel like its here at its heart.

ART: 5/5
Switching out to another artist is as you know by now something of an irritation to me and considering the cover I was dreading that the energy of last issue would wane somewhat with the next instalment. Happily my fears are unfounded and there is no such dip in, in fact the bar is raised with some truly spectacular sequences.

ISSUE RATING: 5/5
That ending…

I’m picking up my jaw from the floor because it was literally the last thing I suspected and genius at the same time. A curve ball like this is unusual early on and I don’t think even Maxwell Lord is ready for where this is going!

SUPER POWERS #2
Chapter Two
Writers: Art Balthazar & Franco
Artist: Art Balthazar
Cover: Art Balthazar

Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Krypto help tend to Clark after he fights a near fatal battle with Luthor. While at that very same moment Composite Superman attacks Central City.

Batman and Flash arrive on the scene to fight this stranger from the future but are shocked when another time traveller appears to join the fight. Along with Superman, Supergirl and Krypto.

Composite Superman is pulled back to the future but not before giving Batman vital clues to his journey into the past. He was after Superman’s baby sibling!

Back on New Krypton Lara has given birth to a healthy baby boy, however because of the time Lara spent in the Phantom Zone the DNA of the baby was altered!

To Be Continued…

COVER: 5/5
The addition of Flash to the mix of superheroes is a welcome one and this cover promises just as much energy and fun as last issue. I really love the feel that this is an energetic sketch, and that there are no excessive digital pantone shades. The cover is stronger for that.

ART: 5/5
The stylistics continue throughout the issue and it goes from strength to strength. That last page of art had me more astounded than the Justice League vs Suicide Squad one.

ISSUE RATING: 5/5
The mystery continues to deepen with time travellers thrown into the mix and the story, gains more momentum, appealing more to adults with each passing issue almost like a Disney/Pixar movie there are levels that traverse the age differences. What isn’t there to love? Composite Superman? Unknown Superman? Kal El’s baby brother? Yeah that last page… if Balthazar and Franco wanted to knock the wind out of a DC reader with shock – they succeeded.

THE HELLBLAZER #5
The Poison Truth: Part 5
Writer: Simon Oliver
Artist: Pia Guerra
Cover: John Cassaday
Variant cover: Yasmine Putri

Marid reveals to Clarice that he and his brother Adnan are both Djinn and that he has a plan in motion to save humanity from itself and despite the fact John Constantine is still alive the plan is still set t proceed.

In England, a badly hurt Swamp Thing reveals to John, Chas and Mercury that the Djinn have Abby because they need an elemental avatar to do their bidding.

Swamp Thing returns to the earth itself to regenerate and leaves Constantine with Mercury, much to her annoyance and in the back of Chas’ cab they do try their best to rebuild bridges until they arrive at a place Mercury wants to investigate; Cane Hill Asylum, Kent.

John is shocked, and haunted by his own time in an asylum, but seeing Mercury’s mother, Marj, his onetime lover is almost too much to bear. However despite the touching visit and bonding over history John is as offish as ever and Mercury is seething that even this visit couldn’t crack his exterior.

Elsewhere Swamp Thing has sought out the Parliament of Trees he tells them that while he recuperates he has left Mercury and John Constantine the task of investigating the Djinn.

Naturally hearing this the Parliament are horrified that the Hellblazer is their only hope!

To Be Continued…

COVER: 4/5
The abstract style here isn’t as well executed as past issues and though Cassaday works hard to channel the story inside it just doesn’t (and forgive me for inflicting this pun upon you) have the magic the past issues have had.

ART: 5/5
The art this issue is a strange animal. It’s beautiful, clean and sharp in composition and most definitely in execution. Does it belong in The Hellblazer? The answer to that question is no. To me personally Pia Guerra is more suited to a title such as The Flash or Supergirl, something with an innocence befitting the wonderful art. I hope that doesn’t sound insulting, it isn’t meant to be I can’t wait to see more of Guerra’s art… but I associate John Constantine with darkness, macabre elements and personally there is a light to the art that says superhero to me perhaps that’s in part at the fault of the story content?

There isn’t much going on that is very mystical or macabre…

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
There is nothing going on this issue and at the same time, a great deal.

John Constantine is famously a closes book. Nothing about him gets out unless he volunteers it and similarly, nothing gets in.

The progression of the Poison Truth is put on hold for an exploration of character and relationships between John and Mercury. Brilliantly written and by the end of the issue despite the journey you are still left knowing as little or as much as John wants you to. Simon Oliver might be weaving a slow tale and this issue may have slowed it further but it was an insightful and welcome chapter.

VIGILANTE: SOUTHLAND #3 of 6
Part 3
Writer: Gary Phillips
Artist: Elena Casagrande
Inking support: Moritat
Cover: Mitch Gerads

With the police in pursuit, Vigilante fights his way to freedom and dives underwater to escape into an underwater drain.

Later, Percy calls in a lead to Donny that ‘Spectros’ is someone they need to ask Nina about. Meanwhile, the antics in Koreatown the night before are all over social media. However, the D.A isn’t unscathed and is killed in an ‘accidental’ car crash. Madam Daisy is perhaps more connected to things than even Donny and Percy realise…

Back at Miguel’s, Donny is training hard to perfect his fighting skills when Nina arrives and he confides in them that he remembers a boat number plate.

Checking up they discover it is registered to Four Star Machine Works and Donny, as Vigilante, sneaks aboard searching for clues.

A thug surprises Donny and smashes him in the head before the fight leads back onto the docks. Outmatched, Donny dives into the water and races back to his motorbike.

Overcome by his injuries, Donny crashes the bike in a nearby alley and loses consciousness.

To Be Continued…

COVER: 5/5
This titles covers have been consistently good and this doesn’t disappoint either. There is an eighties feel to it and an artistically edgy one. Donny really looks like he means business. Digital tinkering usually deadens a piece of art but here it is used in a unique and skilfully enhancing way.

ART: 5/5
Continuing that great style the book has already become known for the momentum and movie styling doesn’t slow in any way. I like that there has been a painstaking effort made to ensure consistency is key.

ISSUE RATING: 5/5
Could Donny be the lamest Vigilante ever?

Possibly. He is fueled on revenge as much as Batman but thrown into the ring much faster than Batman. He isn’t equipped to fight, be a detective, or be a superhero. All the ingredients are there however in his strong supporting cast, he just has to realise it.

There is a rawness to his character I’ve only ever seen in Wild Dog before and Gary Philips is crafting a brilliant first thriller for him.

WONDER WOMAN #13
Angel Down
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Renato Guedes
Cover: Liam Sharp & Brad Anderson
Variant: Jenny Frison

Diana has become completely withdrawn, so Steve calls for an extraction from ‘Themyscira’ only The Picket, their only hope of rescue has been subject of a massacre and the invading soldiers are now only to happy to ‘rescue’ Wonder Woman.

Steve checks his sat-phone and finds a message from Etta to run. Agent Etta Candy never runs so Steve realises something serious is at play and at that moment Diana reawakens but in an unhinged state. Realising whoever received his extraction message was on the way to kill them Steve leads Diana deep into the forestry.

Veronica Cale communicates with the soldiers, and reveals that the island may still be a gateway to Themyscira but only Diana can open it. She also tells them that Etta Candy has escaped possibly to rendezvous with Barbara Minerva.

Steve sets several traps and takes out nearly the entire squad of hunters all by himself except their General Maru. Just as they are about to be taken into enemy custody, ARGUS arrives and rescues Steve and Diana.

Hours later, in London, Steve has checked Wonder Woman into a hospital under an alias, Diana Prince in hopes she comes back from the brink.

To Be Continued…

COVER: 4/5
Do you feel Diana’s devastation?

If not, why not? This is a truly evocative cover that really cuts deep if you’ve been following the title so far. Not sure Maru warrants centre stage but other than her all I want to do is give Diana a hug.

ART: 5/5
I’ve been so used to Guedes work on Superman over the years that seeing the progression since then to Wonder Woman is something of a drastic change. There is a dark edge to the art that wasn’t there before. It is well suited to the mission of the Poison team and added to the fear factor of being hunted.

ISSUE RATING: 5/5
Changing pace to a monologue narrative for the majority of the issue really works as it showcases Steve Trevor, who is often sidelined in much the same way Lois Lane is. My disappointment in not seeing Etta and how she dealt with the ambush with Cale is sidelined quickly by the revelations and ramifications of ‘The Lies’ on poor Diana.

I hope we see more issues of her supporting cast dealing with her fractured psyche as seeing them in the spotlight is a brilliant way to buck the story and reader to attention.

On December 27, actress, writer and Hollywood royalty Carrie Fisher passed away following a heart attack a few day prior on a flight an international flight to Los Angeles at age 60.

Best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, Fisher was the daughter of actor Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. Fisher was also known for her comedic chops, starring in comedies such as Soapdish, When Harry Met Sally and The Man With One Red Shoe.

Fisher was also a best-selling author and playwright, often focusing on her personal struggles with both addiction and mental illness, using her Dorothy Parker-esque wit to shed light on serious issues and help bring focus to important causes.

Always a princess and probably the funniest person in the galaxy, here is a small look back at earlier TV spots featuring Fisher:

Interview With Austin TV (1977)

Right before Star Wars came out and Fisher became a household name, Carolyn Jackson interviewed the young Carrie on her experiences on filming, including what were the scariest experiences, her musical aspirations and her love of the great state of Texas.

Star Wars Cast On The Mike Douglas Show (1977)

Carrie, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford chat about Star Wars, as Carrie talks about how she was cast as Princess Leia and corrects Mike on Chewie’s age.

Carrie as Princess Leia on Saturday Night Live (1977)

What if the Princess was in a ‘60s beach movie?

Interview In French (1977)

Special Cinema interviews the 20-year-old “daughter of Dark Vader” in French. Harrison Ford sits nearby in awed silence as Carrie does the talking.

Carrie Fisher on Good Morning America (1980)

Carrie talks about The Empire Strikes Back and chats openly about her Hollywood parents and their encouragement in her career.

Carrie Fisher with Billy Dee Williams On Bobbie Wygant (1980)

The duo chat about Empire Strikes Back and filming in Cloud City, working with a blue screen and how the success of Star Wars affected her career.

Late Night With David Letterman (1983)

Fisher chats with Dave about “Revenge” of the Jedi  and the issue of using squibs, the dangers of stunts and chats her long term goals of becoming the center square on Hollywood Squares.

Bonus: The second half of the clip features Mark Hamill

Carrie Chats With Johnny Carson (1983)

Fisher’s first appearance on Johnny’s couch promoting Return of the Jedi, where she talks about why she went into showbiz.

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday…now let’s get back to comic books!

All Star Batman #5 
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by John Romita Jr.
Published by DC Comics

This is the final chapter of the first storyline of this title. Man, what a beginning. Scott Snyder wrote one heck of a story arc, and it was a thrill to read from start to finish. Man, what a joy. He has such affection for Batman, and it shows on every page he writes.

Batman, Duke and Two-Face square off in a fight for Harvey Dent’s soul. With assassins flooding in from across the countryside, Batman learns that even his most trusted allies might choose evil over good.

I like John Romita Jr. and he does pretty decent work here. I feel as I’ve said before, this would have been a stronger story if Declan Shalvey (who drew the backups) did the art.

Romita does a capable job, but it has a few “been there, done that moments.” Still, it’s a great package overall and the ending is very satisfying.

Pick it up! A great story to end the year with!

RATING: A-

Batgirl #6   
Written by Hope Larson
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque
Published by DC Comics

This was another nice year end surprise. I had thought last issue was Albuquerque’s last issue…but lo and behold he is the artist on this issue as well.

It’s the epilogue of the Beyond Burnside storyline and it’s very good!

On what should be a relaxing flight back home, Babs finds herself and her fellow passengers in mortal peril from…Poison Ivy?

Batgirl must get to the bottom of Ivy’s attack and save the plane if she ever wants to see home again!

The story by Larson is quite inventive. I enjoyed the little nooks and crannies of it. It shows this title has a lot of promise.

The sad thing is that she and Albuquerque are really finally getting a groove. Hopefully they can reunite on this title or on something else down the line. It’s certainly something worth thinking about.

RATING: B+

The Flash #13
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Neil Googe
Published by DC Comics

Another great surprise this week! The last few issues have been languishing, but this one picks right up and has one hell of a last page! I’m excited! If Williamson can keep this up, we could seriously be back on track. Exciting stuff indeed!

It’s holiday season in Central City and Barry Allen goes on a date with a brand new sweetheart. But things never go as planned for The Flash, who finds himself saddled with an unexpected wingman.

This issue is fun. The art is a tad too cartoony for me (Googe can and has done better), but hey.

The story is much much better than it has been again…so let’s keep it going! There’s no reason why not!

RATING: B+

Deathstroke #9 
Written by Christopher Priest
Illustrated by Cary Nord
Published by DC Comics

How does the best DC title get even better?

You put Cary Nord on the art duties.

Holy Hannah! Nord has developed into being one of the best artists and storytellers we currently have, and he is very underrated. Here, we see him start off a new arc, and it’s damn good art.

This story is called “FOUR DAYS” part one! After Deathstroke’s family is shattered, Slade recalls the first time he and Wintergreen worked together—on a mission that changed both of their lives forever.

Priest writes another one hell of a script. And Nord of course kills it on art.

This is only a two issue arc. It’s a shame. That being said the regular art team aren’t a bunch of slouches either.

Every issue of Deathstroke this year has been amazing. Year two promises even more. I can’t wait.

RATING: A

Frostbite # 4 
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Jason Shawn Alexander
Published by DC Comics

Frostbite has been one of the neatest debuts of the current year. The story has me intrigued from page to page and issue to issue. Williamson has written one of the more interesting sci-fi comics in awhile and it’s pretty damn exciting.
V]ic has a bounty on her head, and everyone out on the ice is looking to collect. After narrowly escaping the latest attempt on her life, she and Keaton hide away in a remote cabin where the previous inhabitants died of Frostbite. Little do they know, however, that Fuego’s thugs are just about to knock on their door.

This book is well written for sure. The art is a standout here too, however.

The images that come in are gorgeous, issue to issue. I can’t get enough of them. I am loving this book. Two more issues to go, but I’m at the edge of my seat.

RATING: A

Dark Knight 3: The Master Race #7
Written by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello
Illustrated by Andy Kubert and Frank Miller
Published by DC Comics

The miniseries that never seems to end has another issue! And it’s very good! Let’s hope it can finish sometime in 2017…I’m forgetting what is happening! Still, it’s very good!

Batman and Superman are joined together to fight against an evil that threatens to destroy our world. But Bruce Wayne appears to be dead! Will that stop Batman?

It’s an interesting twist how they get out of this. But Miller and Azzarello have a great time and have written a cool script. It’s crazy bananas nuts. But I love it. Kubert does a great job on the art too. And Miller does a great art job as always on the minicomics.

All in all, it’s great. But it would be even better if they can finish it before 2018! I want to read the whole thing together!

RATING: A-

Mother Panic #2 
Written by Jody Houser
Illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards
Published by DC Comics

One of the best books in the Young Animal line is this title. It’s weird, and strangely thrilling. I loved the first issue and reread it in preparation for this issue. I’m glad I did. It was pretty awesome overall.

Mother Panic is on the hunt, which means Violet Paige is out on the town, making a splash among Gotham City’s elite. But what role do missing kids play in her thirst for vengeance? And what does her target have to do with the mysterious death of her father?

One of the coolest things on this title is Edwards on the art. When he leaves, I’ll be really sad. What is going on here is very special. Houser is doing great on the scripts, but it’s the collaboration that makes it sing.

Stellar work.

RATING: A

Titans #6 
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Brett Booth
Published by DC Comics

This issue was damn awesome too!

Featuring a Wally West “out of time” story, this title really kicked it up a notch yet again.

I loved the entire issue. It’s fast, and it is dramatic.

And that’s all you need!

After making the ultimate sacrifice for his friends, Wally West finds himself lost in the Speed Force with no hope of return!

Has Wally’s run come to a sudden end?

Abnett writes a good tale. This arc was a fast paced, lightning fast, enjoyable read. Booth is just an artist that is awesome. The last page again is great for sure and a surprise.

I’m excited about the next arc.

RATING: B+

Detective Comics #947 
Written by James Tynion IV
Illustrated by Alvaro Martinez
Published by DC Comics

The Victim Syndicate storyline wraps up here and it’s another win for DC this week. This may be their best week yet, and it’s a hell of a way to finish out the year.

Has the First Victim succeeded in dividing and conquering Batman’s team?

The final attack will come from someone they’d all put their faith in…

The issue actually moves the Watchmen storyline a little farther here…and thank god. DC needs to get on that or people will lose interest.

The writing is decent and the art was great! This was overall very good.

A great last few pages again. I’m happy with where this title is going.

RATING: B+

Harley’s Little Black Book #5   
Written by Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by Neal Adams
Published by DC Comics

This has been a good Harley Quinn year. And what a way to end it. Neal Adams does the art for this and it’s a send up of his famous Superman Vs Muhammad Ali issue. What great fun.

There’s not a lot to say about this except that eventually Superman fights Harley Quinn in a boxing ring and it’s a hell of a good time!

Connor and Palmiotti write a cool story, and it’s been a great year for them.

Adams does the best work he has done in years. I applaud his work here….he’s been working in the business for over fifty years and shows no signs of slowing down.

Good for him.

RATING: A-

Batman Beyond #3
Written by Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Bernard Chang
Published by DC Comics

This has been a fine title thus far.

Dan Jurgens really has taken the bull by the horns with this book and ran with it. The results are pretty well fantastic. This is working very well.

Batman wades through the Jokerz gang and finally squares off against Terminal, their would-be ruler. But how much does he have left to take on this deadliest of foes?

And finally, the moment his followers have been waiting for—the comatose Joker awakens!

The art is pretty damn cool and well suited to the comic.

I love this team and the way this book is coming out.

Let’s keep it going into the new year!

RATING: B+

And the rest of the DC titles….

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #11 
Written by Robert Venditti and Illustrated by Rafa Sandoval
The Bottled Light story continues…and it’s fairly dull. A shame. If they wanted to improve this title in the new year, they should get a new creative team on it.
RATING: C-

Future Quest #8   
Written by Jeff Parker and Illustrated by Ariel Olivetti
This series has been pretty good…and then they put a guest artist spot by Ariel Olivetti in this issue. They kicked it up a notch here to finish the year and I just love it. Thumbs up!
RATING: A

Clean Room #15 
Written by Gail Simone and Illustrated by Sanya Anwar
I haven’t really read this series but it’s fairly solid. The writing is good and the art decent…I will catch up with it at some point but for now, I liked what I read.
RATING: B

Supergirl: Being Super #1 
Written by Mariko Tamaki and Illustrated by Joelle Jones
Holy crap! This was totally awesome! I got this not expecting too much and they completely knocked it out of the park for me!! Tamaki is one of the best writers out there and Jones one of the best artists. I had no idea they were working together, let alone on this comic. Pick it up! It’s awesome!!
RATING: A

Teen Titans #3 
Written by Benjamin Percy and Illustrated by Khoi Pham
I’m not a huge fan of this title. It just feels slight in comparison to the other books being published. A rather unexciting story with okay art. Not a must buy.
RATING: C

Six Pack and Dog Welder #5
Written by Garth Ennis and Illustrated by Russ Braun
Published by DC Comics
This little series has been a lot of fun with a few laughs. Ennis knows his audience and writes towards them. The results are less than they’ve been in the last but still great fun. The art is decent as well. Worth a read.
RATING: B

On Christmas Day, 2016 claimed another victim in its ongoing tally as the century’s most prolific serial killer with the death of George Michael. The former frontman of Wham! died suddenly on the morning of Dec. 25 of heart failure at age 53.

The ‘80s icon was a staple of early MTV and helped define the look of the music channel for the first decade of its existence. From Careless Whisper to Faith, Michaels was a finder of Faith, a wanter of sex, a Father Figure and more, and he will forever be remembered for his contributions to pop culture.

Here is a look back at a few performances from early in his career:

Wham! Performs on The Music Shop (aka Muskicladen) (1982)

In 1982, a very young George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley rapped and danced their way inthe the hearts of German fans on this Berlin-based TV show.

Wham! Sings Blue (Armed With Love)  On The Russell Harty Show (1983)

Blue was one of Wham!’s first hit singles, so they took it on the road to all the talkers, including this variety program.

Wham! Performs Freedom Live On The Terry Wogan Show (1984)

The duo appeared the Irish broadcaster’s BBC talker in this bouncy little number.

Wham! Performs Blue (Armed With Love) (Again) Live in China (1985)

From the Club Tropicana album tour

Wham! Performs The Edge of Heaven (1986)

The pop duo take over Top of the Pops

George Michael Interview and Performance at the Stand By Me AIDS Benefit Concert (1987)

The crooner sings Everything She Wants to a sold out charity performance and a post-Wham! reunion with Andrew Ridgeley.

The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons were just the beginning and now with INFERNO, two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, two-time Academy Award winner Ron Howard and bestselling author Dan Brown are reunited for the latest intense thriller in this billion-dollar franchise.

In this contemporary action thriller, the famous symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia and finds himself the target of a manhunt.  Langdon teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories.  Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population. Joining the international adventure are Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster and Sidse Babett Knudsen. INFERNO debuts on digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD January 24 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The INFERNO Blu-ray, DVD and digital releases are loaded with exciting and never-before-seen bonus content, including deleted scenes and six intriguing behind-the-scenes featurettes. Director Ron Howard shares his process for bringing to life the iconic imagery described in Dante’s Divine Comedy and the powerful themes that the classic story infuses into the film in “Visions of Hell,” while in “Ron Howard, A Director’s Journal,” viewers follow the acclaimed auteur as he returns to the world of Robert Langdon and documents his journey via social media. “Inferno Around the World,” highlights the stellar international cast involved in the film and the crew’s unprecedented access to stunning locations across the globe.

Novelist Dan Brown, Director Ron Howard, Screenwriter David Koepp and Tom Hanks explore the evolution of Robert Langdon across the franchise and the new insights discovered about the hero in “A Look at Langdon.” Felicity Jones is front and center in “This Is Sienna Brooks,” which shines a light on one of the film’s most complex characters and the precision with which the Oscar nominated actressbrings her to life, while Ben Foster’s character gets the spotlight in “The Billionaire Villain: Bertrand Zobrist,” where viewers go inside the mind of the brilliant but dangerous villain and hear from Foster and the filmmakers about crafting this terrifying character.

Directed by Ron Howard with a screenplay by David Koepp, INFERNO is based upon the novel by Dan Brown.  The film is produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with David Householter, Dan Brown, William M. Connor, Anna Culp and Ben Waisbren as Executive Producers.

Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Bonus Materials Include:

• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Six Featurettes:
  • “Ron Howard, A Director’s Journal”
  • “A Look at Langdon”
  • “The Billionaire Villain: Bertrand Zobrist”
  • “This Is Sienna Brooks”
  • “Inferno Around the World”
  • “Visions of Hell”

For more details visit infernomovie.net

Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan returns to the captivating grip of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs with Split, an original film that delves into the mysterious recesses of one man’s fractured, gifted mind.  Following last year’s breakout hit The Visit, Shyamalan reunites with producer Jason Blum (The Purge and Insidious series, The Gift) for the thriller being hailed as “Shyamalan’s most terrifying film to date.”

Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities—each with unique physical attributes—to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others.  Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

For the film The Guardian calls “a masterful blend of Hitchcock and horror,” Shyamalan and Blum reassemble their core team from The Visit, the No. 1-grossing horror film of 2015.  Their fellow collaborators on Split include producer Marc Bienstock and executive producers Ashwin Rajan and Steven Schneider.

And we’re giving away passes for advance screenings in both Hartford and Boston on January 17th!

To win passes for the Boston screening click HERE!

To win passes for the Hartford screening click HERE!

Please fill out all info at the link to enter-to-win a pass for you and a guest to the advance screening of Split.  You will be notified via email if you’ve won. Passes are available while supplies last, on a first come, first served basis.

Hidden Figures author Margot Lee Shetterly with FOG!’s Kristen Halbert

Outside of the Langley campus very little was known about the teams of female mathematicians or “human computers” who worked on the massive amounts of calculations that drove the NASA space program in its early days. Margot Lee Shetterly has set out to change that with her book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, which covers the the true stories of several of these women and their amazing contributions to aerospace engineering.

Now this phenomenal true stories comes to theaters from director Theodore Melfi and stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae.  Recently, I sat down with Shetterly to discuss the impact of her work, why these stories hold significance to everyone, and what it was like to see it translated to the big screen.

*  *  *  *  *

FOG!: Why did it take so long for this story to be told?

Margot Lee Shetterly: I think there are a bunch of reasons. One is that the women started working in World War II and a lot of the work was classified. But obviously for the black woman they were literally segregated in a separate office so they were kind of in a place where people might not have seen them. I think the bigger reason that applied to all the women – not just the black women but all of them – is that this was considered “women’s work”. The men did the engineering and the women did the computing and the math. The engineering was seen as sort of a higher level, more analytical, more intellectually rigorous kind of work, and the work that the women did was absolutely necessary but seen as more rote and routine.

Even when the women were doing a lot of the more rigorous engineering work they still got paid less and had lower status, so honestly I really think that’s the biggest reason – that we didn’t value this work. It’s like saying “hey let’s talk about the desktop calculators and its’ important role in the work that they did” and to a certain extent I think the engineers often saw these women as kind of a living version of these desktop calculators.

Only now do we have enough distance and sensibility about the contributions, and the value of the contributions of different people to the American experience that we’re able to say, ”hey let’s stop and recognize the work that they did” and the fact that without those calculations and computations neither the space race nor the aeronautics industry would have evolved the way it did. It’s like “hey women do it, so why talk about it”.

There is a certain divide though between how the black computers are valued versus how the white computers were valued. Do you think that affected their own sense of morale or purpose?

In the movie there’s a visual representation of that with this scene where there’s this receiving line and you see the astronauts drive up in these Jeeps and everybody has turned out and there’s a band to receive the astronauts. And first there’s the white men, and there’s the white women. And then, you know, way at the end there are these black women who are waiting to receive the astronauts. The NASA people turned [the astronauts] away but then the astronauts insist on shaking their hands, and I think it’s a good visual film metaphor for that hierarchy.

It’s really interesting because while in the interviews and the conversations that happened before with the women where they talk about that they express, obviously, bitterness towards the systems; not so much towards the person or personnel or individuals that they worked with. But it really was sort of a complicated thing to have to come to work and do in some cases this very high-level professional mathematics and then have to go and ask where the colored girls’ bathroom is. That sort of dichotomy of being at one of those most elite scientific and technical organizations in the world and still having to be reminded when you had to go to the bathroom or eat lunch that you were legally a second-class citizen.

That being said, these women were always very aware that this was an opportunity to expand opportunities for women who look like them, to earn two to three times more than they were earning as teachers so they made these very long-term significant impacts on the prospects of their families, their kids went to school, they bought homes I mean all the aspects of the American dream these things that everyone wants for themselves. They enjoyed their work, they found it to be really fulfilling because they were using the talents that they had. They enjoyed their colleagues by and large; interesting people, smart people. And over time they really were able to increase the prospects for black women, for women in general, and for the black men. By the time black male Engineers came to Langley in the 1950s these women were already a decade in proving what black people could do in science and technology.

Writing the book, I never wanted to not look at those really hard aspects of that history but at the same time I didn’t want this to be a book that was just about the racism. I think a lot of times these stories – especially if they’re about African Americans or women – it leads with the racism and it leads with the sexism and we always or often forget that these are three-dimensional people who are also scientists who really loved math, who had all of these different things that they experienced aside from the sexism or the racism. You know, I really wanted it to be about all of those things: the great parts, the complicated part, all of the parts.

It definitely came across in the story.

I love that, and that’s the way the women were, very much three-dimensional fascinating people.

In the movie, you’ll have three main characters who are telling three very specific stories in different ways in which they’ve were interacted with the entire time period.

Yeah, and in the book there’s actually a fourth woman Christine Darden who’s 74, she’s a baby of the group and her experience was totally different. She was able to stand on the shoulders of those women and rise to the top of NASA and become this internationally recognized expert on sonic boom phenomena in supersonic flight. She was kind of the culmination of the dream, and Dorothy Vaughn -who was this brilliant, talented, hard-working ambitious woman you know – she was just before her time. She was too early. She was never able to fully realize what she wanted at the end of her career. Learning her story was always a bittersweet part for me.

As the author of the book, writing this and doing this research, what did you learn about yourself?

One is that I really love the research! I just loved it, I loved it, I loved it.  I was obsessed with finding out about these women – the details, where they lived, what their houses looked like, what they wore to work each day, what their dreams were. I looked at photographs; you can learn so much from the photographs. NASA has done a spectacular job of archiving documentary evidence of the work of their people. That was a really big part of it. Another part, honestly, this was sort of a love letter to my hometown.

I grew up in Hampton, Virginia. I lived in New York and Mexico for a long time and this story is really about where I’m from. The love for where I’m from and for the people where I’m from. There are things about my hometown and the sort of deep love and respect that tapped into a well of emotion and sentimentality that I wouldn’t have expected that I actually had for my hometown. You go away, but you’re always from a place and there’s always that love, and that was also part of this book for me.

So when you talk in the beginning about your hometown and how you grew up in an environment where you thought everyone was into science, or an engineer, or accomplished in some kind of way, how did it shape your lens when you were looking at these women who were the first ones and had to do this where no one had done it before?

I think what it allowed me to do was to say “You know what, I’m the end result”.  I am kind of the product of these women who were then able to open the door for my  dad, who had this great career as a research scientist, and I got to grow up as this middle-class person who was expected to go to college and be educated and all of these things. I really wanted to show that in the book, and I think they also did a very good job of communicating that in the movie. That was my reality. It was kind of normal.

And it wasn’t some super dramatic bourgeois ruse. It was just so middle-America normal.  That was also something I really wanted to show; these people who were African American or women or both who had to face certain barriers because of their gender or their race, but who also had all of these other ambitions and who wanted these normal things and were passionate about the work that they did – who are not the first or the only.

This was a community of people who had all of these different aspects of community: they were scientist, they were black, they were women, they were mothers, they were Girl Scout leaders, they were all these different things and they weren’t in conflict. That was really important to me, that this wasn’t some story of the hopelessly perfect one and only that we’re going to hold on to a pedestal and worship. No, these were normal people living a normal life that wanted things that are totally understandable to anyone – a better life for your family, meaningful work, all of this stuff. And they just happened to be black and female.

That really was important to me, to make it normal. To show the hard parts and show the specific parts but also to make it accessible to people in a way to people, whoever you are. We all have these experience where you’re just like “how am I going to get this boss to see that I am the right person to do this work” and the guts that it takes regardless of who you are.  Everyone has been in that circumstance so I really wanted that to be the case here too.

How important is a story like this to little girls even now, and especially to little girls in the black community?

I think it is really important, and again I do think this is a story that transcends and that can be inspiring to people of all backgrounds. I think particularly for women and then more specifically for black women and black girls, the kind of portrayals that are reflected back to you that are so limited are getting better recently; the super expansion in television and film and books. For example, when I screened the movie, all these amazing things are happening in these moments and you laugh and you cry and all these things. I think for me one of the most powerful things is when the actress playing Katherine Johnson, the young Katherine Johnson, is factoring quadratic equations at the blackboard. And she’s going through the proof and I’m like “oh my God.” My dad’s a great scientist and he’s like “you will sit down, you will do your algebra, you will do your calculus homework, and you will not get up from the kitchen table till it’s done.”  So I’m sitting there probably getting triggered, having flashbacks or something, but you know it’s a little black girl with big glasses doing quadratic equations at a blackboard!

That is super radical in terms of portrayal on a screen, and so I really hope that it expands that if there is a little black girl like I was, right? With big glasses? That these girls will say “hey I can be that too.” Even if I don’t want to, the idea that I could, or I might, or that someone who looks like me might be doing that I think is really powerful. And then for everyone else to say “hey, next time I see a little black girl with glasses maybe she’s the kind of person who factors quadratic equations on a blackboard,” well that’s fantastic too! We all kind of have an effort to bring to our interactions with people, not just who they are or who they appear to be but who they might be. I think that’s really what the story is about.

Earlier you said that one of the things you loved the most was the research. Was there anything surprising that you found?

You know I think the most surprising thing that came out of the research was just how many women there were. It really did just begin with Katherine Johnson, and she’s very well known, and she is somebody who in Hampton Roads that a lot of people have known for a long time. She’s sort of this person whose achievements have been on record since the 1960s. Then talking to her I learned about Dorothy Vaughn, and then Dorothy Vaughn’s family they’re like “okay now you gotta get Mary” and this whole long list.  There was that group of black women and they were part of this really large group of women from all backgrounds and so you know it was just like, there are A LOT of women here!

This is really big and it’s not like we have to dance around and canonize one woman; we’ve got the backup that there were tons of them. And not only that – I’m sitting in the room looking at the research reports of women and there were women, this black woman named Dorothy Hoover who was doing this amazing research back in 1952…There was a white woman whose name is Doris Cohen, she had originally come from New York, who had done quite a bit of groundbreaking research starting in 1941. So, at every turn I was sort of like “well, wow.”

Anything that any of us had ever thought about the participation of women in something like this was overturned and so I would say that was the biggest surprise in the research, which was a wonderful surprise, was just how many women there were and just how deep the bench was in terms of the quality and the variety of the research that these women were putting out way doing back in the day. I mean it was just thrilling, totally thrilling. I mean I’m still turning up research and still turning up names of women, and people send obituaries. I hear from the grandnieces of people. There are so many of them.

I just find it tremendously confidence-inspiring and it underscores the fact that if you look for talented people you will find them.  You just have to look. And if you put them to work in a situation like that they will contribute greatly to whatever the effort is. It’s just hard numerical evidence of that. That’s what these women are.

How involved were you in the production of the movie?

They hired me as a consultant and I did not write the script. I mean, you know it was my first book, I had to learn how to write a book first, right? But they really did a good job of keeping me in the loop as the script was being developed and listening to my opinion. I would see drafts of the script and say “no, no, no, that’s not right,” or “we have to have it a different way,” and they were really very good about listening to my input even as I was understanding the difference between a book and a movie. You cannot just take four decades of history of a book and turn it into a movie that people are going to be interested in sitting through for 2 hours.

I really enjoyed and just learned so much about both the creative process of what it takes to turn a book into a movie and the business process of boy, what it takes to put together the pieces to make a movie happen. Donna Gigliotti, who’s the producer of the movie, if she wants to maybe she should get a cabinet post. The woman is amazing! She knows how to make things happen and run things, and to see how challenging that is and how a movie getting made really depends on having somebody who is a genius when it comes to that kind of organization, which I think she is.

So it’s just great; and now I’m really happy at the end of this process, and it’s actually happened. The day is coming, I can’t believe it. I couldn’t be more thrilled but you know what? These women, they totally deserve this. I’m so happy for them. I wish that Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson and all of these other women were around to see this day but I’m really grateful that Katherine Johnson is and a few of the other women, black and white, are. I feel like absolutely the luckiest person that this has all come together in this way. These women are and were spectacular. Totally, totally spectacular.

I feel like with the success of this we’ll see a lot more of these stories going forward.

I hope so! I mean there’s so many great stories. I mean so many stories.  America has always been this place with so many people from so many different backgrounds and I think it’s just a matter of “recovering” the stories and telling them. These big sweeping American stories are amazing and there really are a lot of them. But the big sweeping stories, but with kind of ordinary extraordinary people, I think those are the best. Like the kings and queens and presidents, that’s all great –

But we’ve heard that.

We’ve heard them! We want the ordinary superheroes, like that’s what gets me super excited

I think it’s a lot easier for people to see themselves in those situations too.

I totally agree with you. The accessibility to say “I’m like that person,” or “I’m like them”…There’s a lot to be said for that. There is so much to be said for that.

Hidden Figures is now playing in select theaters, and opens nationwide on January 6th 2017.

Some new beginnings as we meet Maxwell Lord, Malcolm Merlyn and Ryan Choi anew, while Midnighter takes on Neron and reach a midpoint in the big versus crossover. Unfortunately this starts the year off with a slightly damp squib as the stories this week don’t hit the heights they usually do.

This is my look into the DC Universe this week!

CYBORG #8
The Imitation of Life Part 8: Kill Switch
Writer: John Semper Jr.
Artists: Paul Pelletier & Will Conrad
Cover: Will Conrad & Ivan Nunes
Variant: Carlos D’Anda

Xenephon ‘Exxy’ Clark is wanted for questioning in five technology heists in 2016, and on the run from the police. Cyborg hunts him down for a special mission he believes only Exxy can accomplish – break into S.T.A.R. Labs!

The promise of access to cutting edge tech, or prison is an offer Exxy can’t refuse. Using Cyborg’s blueprints they sneak into the air ducts, avoiding the security systems, defenses and traps set up to protect the lab, until they reach the prize… Victor Stone comatose on a gurney.

The Cyborg with Exxy reveals himself to be a holographic version of himself and he needed an expert programmer to reactivate his body. Soon after the evil Silas appears as a hologram himself, but in complete command of the facility. On the run from security misled to believe Cyborg is rogue they track down Cyborgs raw data and destroy it. The final stop is to reactivate and rescue Variant before evil Silas can steal her code and technology.

Unfortunately the duo are cornered in her storage room and evil Silas appears in person now sporting metal tentacles. He promptly uses he extra appendages to capture Exxy and constrict Vic revealing to the real Silas that he is really a former creation known as O.T.A.C.

To Be Continued…

ART: 5/5
The art looks great, showcasing Exxy rather than Vic for a change gives the art a unique spin this issue. I hope the superhacker sticks around as he was instantly likeable.

COVER: 4/5
The peril that Vic and Exxy are in is really evident here with evil Silas watching them like some all seeing spectre.

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
I might be the only one but Imitation of Life is starting to grate a little. I hope after eight chapters the end is in sight. I am really enjoying the stories and this issue with a holographic Vic was a pretty clever twist. I just think as a long form story arc it doesn’t seem to be working. As smaller stories it is far more powerful. I hope with the end of O.T.A.C., who even after the reveal is still a mystery, that we can all move on and Cyborg can begin to live a little.

GREEN ARROW #14
Emerald Outlaw Part 3
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artists: Eleonora Carlini, Carlos Rodriguez & Gus Vazquez
Cover: W. Scott Forbes
Variant: Neal Adams & Dave McCaig

Ollie spots the real killer attempting to make an escape and is quickly in pursuit despite the angry crowds mourning Cy Sampson. Black Canary meanwhile is racing to the scene to assist while they try to deduce the killers identity.

Ollie is shocked to be confronted by another Dark Archer who takes out everyone in his path until the chase reaches the stadium rooftop. The archer removes his hood and reveals himself to be none other than Malcolm Merlyn, the original Dark Archer.

The two archers fight and Canary distracts them with a sonic scream as she brings the police with her. To ensure his escape Merlyn fires an arrow directly at the heart of the police chief, but Ollie jumps into its path to protect him and as they watch helplessly, Malcolm Merlyn escapes via a passing airship.

To Be Continued…

ART: 4/5
The action was there and to be honest it was the only saving grace. The action sequences refused to give up the momentum even if the storyline did.

Not sure about the rebirth version of Merlyn, I felt like handing him a comb…

Still I like the fight sequences they really lifted the script.

COVER: 5/5
Holy Heck!

This is spectacular.

If there is one place this issue really excelled… it was surely here with this fantastically illustrated cover.

ISSUE RATING: 3/5
The build up of the last two issues was pretty tense and after everything, the killings, the frame ups, the rich potential of suspects and the ramifications of the outlaw aspect to the story, all we get is Malcolm Merlyn?

I’m really gutted. The potential for so much was there.

It just feels wasted.

MIDNIGHTER & APOLLO #4 (of 6)
Part Four
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Fernando Blanco
Cover: ACO & Romulo Fajardo Jr.

In Castle Epicaricacius, Hell, Neron continues to mentally toy with Apollo.

While at the same time Mawzir is attempting to block Midnighter from his goal.

With the gun broken, Mawzir is unkillable, besides a single enchanted gold bullet.

Midnighter shows why he his both the world’s deadliest fighter and most determined lover. Using the bullet alone as his weapon he dodges an onslaught of blows and gunfire to pierce Mawzir’s skull.

Neron meanwhile teases Apollo into using his powers to lay waste to Hell and then reveal it to be an illusion the next. Illustrating to Apollo that he is broken and the property of Neron now. Apollo laughs off Neron’s attempts to break him and explains the terrible journey of life he’d already gone through with people and their prejudice.

When Midnighter arrives Apollo is trapped within a glass jar at the whim of Neron. Midighter is a stumbling, fragile mess but still hungry for the challenge and determined to the core. He offers Neron a deal, a fight to the finish in exchange for Apollo’s soul!

To Be Continued…

ART: 5/5
It was all about the fight this issue. Midnighter with the physical and Apollo with the mental. For some reason Neron isn’t coming across as a truly deadly foe, not one that cold take on both Apollo and Midnighter at least.

The action was beautifully observed. That headbutt and the set up were worth the cover price alone. I did fist pump as Mawzir finally kicked the bucket.

COVER: 5/5
Another Midnighter-centric cover but considering the bad ass way Mawzir is dispatched, it is warranted. I really liked this, there wasn’t a wole lot of detail but there was attitude in spades. See Batman? Sometimes you can smile and really instill fear in your foe!

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
Mawzir is lame, there I said it. His death was both spectacular and satisfying.

The rest of the issue just felt like a join the dots puzzle. There was nothing in to besides the big fight.

Apollo’s admission of a punishing life and his attempts to take on Neron did not have the strength I know they were meant to.

Granted this was the ‘lull’ where the first three issues built everything up and after this one we have the two part climax so I can’t really fault it. If it continued to build there would be a pay off that was far too fast and without the emotional response this issue granted it.

This is the necessary ‘peak of the rollercoaster’ before all the guns come out blazing (not Mawzir’s) so I’m really keen to see how this progresses.

JUSTICE LEAGUE vs SUICIDE SQUAD #3 of 6
Chapter Three
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Jesus Merino
Inker: Andy Owens
Cover: Jesus Merino, Amy Owens & Alex Sinclair
Variant: Amanda Conner & Laura Martin

Katana and Rick Flag find the entire staff and security of The Catacombs dead. They retrieve the facility Black Box and race back to Belle Reve Penetentiary to warn Amanda Waller of the impending attack.

Batman is led to a meeting with Waller who reveals though the League is captive in Belle Reve, she hasn’t injected them with the explosives she usually uses on her Task Force as a show of good will.

Batman deduces the capture of the League was an attempt to ensure their audience, not obedience.

Meanwhile the Squad arrives to gloat at the captive League until Superman and Killer Frost ‘thaw’ the mood between the teams and Deadshot interjects that the squad isn’t a team it is a group of survivors.

Elsewhere, the Catacomb escapees along with Maxwell Lord, are searching for something in the South Pacific. A shaman priest holds a secret that Lord wants in order to control a new mystery member of their team. The escapees are annoyed at the detour and the shady dealings around it but Lord promises them the waiting is over and the attack is about to begin.

Batman and Waller assemble both teams for a briefing and shows them the video from the Black Box so they know what they’re up against. As deadly as the team is their leader is one that angers Superman. His dealings with Maxwell Lord on his earth gives him a unique advantage over this deadly foe.

Waller tells them that Maxwell Lord is after a weapon that can ensure world domination for him while as a bonus killing her at the same time. Wonder Woman questions why the team would be hunting Waller and she reveals their secret and their motives instantly become clear.

To Be Continued…

ART: 3/5
We are at the halfway point in yet another story and can you see the pattern? Yep this is the dull chapter. It is all talk and no action and unfortunately for Merino he literally has nothing to do. All the action is contained on video footage the entire cast spend watching. Yes the story needed expanding, but at the expense of a skilled artist? Merino drew the short straw and I for one am disappointed that there wasn’t more here.

COVER: 3/5
Considering this is the first big Rebirth event, they seem determined to undersell the book with some pretty dull covers. I mean what is so stunning that you MUST read the book than a cover showing the Justice League asleep?

ISSUE RATING: 3/5
Aside from the revelation at the end there was nothing here. There were some mild character banter scenes to move things along but if you want something more grab Justice League #12. Everything that this issue tries to do, it does better and with more gravitas.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #12
Max Lord: Rebirth
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Christian Duce
Cover: Tony S. Daniel, Sandu Flore & Tomeu Morey
Variant: Yanick Paquette & Nathan Fairbairn

Amanda Waller is interrogating Max Lord, former director of Checkmate. He and his team had derailed a train under information that Kobra cultists were trying to to rescue the criminals on board. When Amanda begins berating his actions, he retaliates by telling her that he and his team were doing what hers should have. Amanda promptly has him arrested for his insolence.

In custody, Amanda goes through his questionable record and torments him over his parents too. She looks into Checkmates history and Max’s rise to power. The attack on Metropolis by Darkseid however was a stumbling block as Checkmate was passed over for two teams in its place A.R.G.U.S. and the Justice League.

Max turns on Amanda wondering why she is investigating him after so long and to what end. He tricks her into revealing the location of Lobo, Emerald Empress, Doctor Polaris, Rustam, and Johnny Sorrow and under the influence of his powers she does so but when armed guards arrive and also under his influence aid his escape, a terrified Waller realises she has underestimated him as a foe.

To Be Continued in Justice League vs Suicide Squad #1

ART: 3/5
Everything I said about JUSTICE LEAGUE vs SUICIDE SQUAD #3 can be cut and pasted here but Duce is the baring the brunt this time. I’m not complaining that we have a ‘talkie’ issue, because in this instance it is necessary as aside for pre Rebirth/New 52 readers nobody knows a thing about Maxwell Lord. Still, we could have seen the attack on the train, or the assault on Checkmate Headquarters instead of just alluding to them.

Not allowing Duce the chance to flex his action muscles is an injustice.

COVER: 5/5
Channeling ‘The OA?’ whatever, this cover showcasing Max Lord makes him look menacing and without even a hint of what many an artist resorts to (gritted, grinding teeth) He is oozing evil and not even doing a thing. That’s some skill right there from Tony S. Daniel, Sandu Flore & Tomeu Morey. Just like his power to compel I wanted to read the story inside.

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
Looking at Max Lord, his motivations, his family, his connections, ‘friends’ and colleagues, not to mention the relationship with Amanda Waller. We gain an insight that the big crossover lacks and honestly would not be able to fit into the narrative of the story they are telling. They try this issue, with a few scenes dedicated to the residents of The Catacombs and Lord’s quest.

This issue just does Maxwell justice. If it was possible to sympathise and hate a man in equal measure this issue did it.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE ATOM #1
The Atom: Rebirth
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Marcelo Maiolo
Variant cover: Andy MacDonald & John Rauch

Ryan Choi’s parents drop him off at Ivy University and he promptly moves into the Bartle Hall dormitory meeting his new roommate, Adam Cray. Adam’s the party animal; Ryan, the brainiac.

Professor Palmer quickly notices the quiet boy is very intelligent student and a year later Palmer calls Ryan to his office and reaches out to him, tries to break through his sheltered motives for wanted to be in the scientific field.

When Ryan finally admits his true hopes and dreams Professor Palmer reveals his miniaturising technology and identity as The Atom to the astounded teen.

They begin a collaboration fighting crime while also pushing the boundaries of scientific research until five weeks ago when Ray Palmer vanishes.

When Ryan under duress from the University Dean and concern for his mentor visits the lab he finds a recording from Ray telling him he has discovered the Microverse, but while he is in there someone will have to take on the Atom mantle to bring him back and Ryan is the only one as intelligent as he is and in on the secret of their technology.

So begins the journey of Ryan Choi… The All-New Atom!

To Be Continued in JLA: REBIRTH!

ART: 4/5
I dig the style. There is an animated hue to the pencil work where the fun of being in the Atom’s world enhances everything, it brings to mind Cave Carson in fact wherein the art fits the script like a glove. The story needs more action to allow the art to grow but as it continues into JLA: Rebirth I’m sure Ryan Choi will enjoy some there. I hope to see more of Andy MacDonald’s work in the future.

COVER: 5/5
Ryan looks kind of goofy in the suit but cool at the same time.

I’m torn, maybe because I empathise with his nerdiness.

ISSUE RATING: 4/5
When Ryan Choi was first introduced as the replacement Atom, I wasn’t a fan. Replacements just never have that magic that the original does, but then again sometimes you get a book like Blue Beetle and that progression works to enhance the mythos while retaining elements of the original to push things forward.

Are there parallels between Jaime Reyes, Ted Kord, Ryan Choi and Ray Palmer? Absolutely. In many ways they are too close. Closer than say Bruce Wayne and Terry McGinnis for example. Does the dynamic between Ray and Ryan work? Absolutely. Will they in the longterm? I’m not sure but I am keen to find out and that’s strictly on the writing of this issue. I hope Ryan and Ray aren’t buried by being bundled into an ensemble cast but bring on the JLA!

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

Happy New Year!

We have a heck of a start to the year 2017.

Let’s talk some comics, shall we?

Aquaman #14
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Phillipe Briones

This issue was completely awesome.

It’s the third part of “The Deluge” and man, was it unexpectedly cool. From start to finish, this is action packed. And it’s EXCITING. I read from start to finish with a smile on my face.

No sooner has Aquaman found a lead on the location of N.E.M.O.’s secret headquarters than the United States sends a team of aquatically trained super-soldiers to take out the sea king. Behold America’s Aquamarines!

The story was strong and the art was fantastic.

Briones has completely floored me. That last page is a stunner. I want to read that next issue NOW!

It’s a great thing when something surprises you like this.

Keep it up Aquaman team!

RATING: A-

Batman #14
Written by Tom King
Illustrated by Mitch Gerads

I’m beginning to think Tom King can write any comic book but Batman.

Now this isn’t horrible. It’s certainly better than the previous issues.

However, I feel like every story there is nothing happening…no progression.

I’m unsure in this issue if he is trying to do a “mood piece?” But it works about halfway…then you realize it’s the same circle

King writes into every Batman story and you get bored.

The story takes place back in Gotham City. Batman and Catwoman confront their past and make a decision about their future that may change their city forever.

The art by Gerads is very good. He and King do work well together. I don’t mind making a more “mature” Batman…but maybe we are going too far in the other direction.

It’s a solemn Batman…and not a terribly exciting one.

RATING: B-

Superman #14
Written by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
Illustrated by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.

This is a great and improved book for me.

I like that Gleason isn’t doing the art and that they are handing the reins over to really great artists like Reis and others. It’s making the book strong and I love that. The Multiversity is back in this issue and I cannot get enough.

The New Super-Man of China has been taken!

The Red Son Superman of Earth-30 has been beaten! And who knows what’s happened to Sunshine Superman! Someone is collecting Supermen across the Multiverse—this looks like a job for our Kal-El as he is joined by Justice Incarnate in this multi-Earth epic!

Fun. That’s what this series has been become.

Man, is it fun.

We need more comics like this. They are doing fantastic. Very strong, indeed.

RATING: A-

Harley Quinn #11
Written by Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by John Timms

Another week, another Harley Quinn comic book.

Man, they keep cranking them out. They are a lot of silly fun.

The focus on this issue would be the art of John Timms. He’s great, and  could have a real future in the comic book field.

For months now, strange reminders of Harley’s time with the Joker have been popping up in the most unexpected places…is this coincidence? Or a message?

As our tale begins, Harley is introduced to a newer, kinder Joker…and Red Tool is not happy about it!

Again, this is very decent. The art is great. And talented artists keep lining up to have some fun. It’s easy to see why.

People need a good laugh and bonkers humor. This certainly has that in spades.

RATING: B

Nightwing #12
Written by Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Marcus To

This is a better issue than the previous two. Though it isn’t AMAZING, I did enjoy it.

Seeley has a capable script here and there’s a good adventure to be had.

The body count in Blüdhaven continues to rise!

Nightwing will have to team up with the Run-Offs to discover who the murderer is and clear the name of the Defacer.

But before they can even begin they cross paths with the killer, Orca, and her Whaler Gang.

There is some good art in this by Marcus To. That opening page is a true stunner.

A good issue for sure. Still could be stronger.

RATING: B

Shade the Changing Girl #4
Written by Cecil Castellucci
Illustrated by Marley Zarcone

Oh, I like this series. It’s a real gem.

The Young Animal imprint has been really rocking and this certainly is a bright spot in it. It’s sweet, weird, scary and utterly delightful.

There’s not a comic book like it nor will there ever be.

As Megan, the soul that Shade displaced, gets farther and farther away from Earth,

Shade is starting to find things about her new planet and her new body that she really likes. F

or instance, there’s music. And also boys. Not to mention would-be friends and her new parents.

This feeling of peace keeps the madness in check—but only temporarily. There is still the matter of that terrible night that put Megan in a coma to begin with.

The story is great and the art is wonderful. I can’t wait to read all of these issues together. That’s going to be truly something.

RATING: A-

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #1
Written by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman
Illustrated by Will Conrad

This was another nice surprise. I have always liked Captain Atom but they could never get him just right.

Here, it looks like we may have a shot.

Captain Atom hasn’t been seen or heard from in years—and even if you think you know what happened to him…you’re  wrong!

But you’re not alone. To this day, no one on Earth—not even the other superheroes—has an inkling of the missing Captain Atom’s true fate.

At last, the truth is about to be revealed in a saga that transcends not only the meaning of life and death, but the limits of time and space.

It’s great to see Cary Bates writing again. This is some strong storytelling and it’s very enjoyable. The art by Conrad is well done. Strong storytelling. It’s a good comic. If they can keep it up we may be onto something here…finally.

RATING: B+

And the rest….

Green Lanterns #13
Written by Sam Humphries and Illustrated by Eduardo Pansica
This is another  in a string of just okay issues. I feel like this series is running on fumes. The art is decent but the story doesn’t involve me as much as I wish it would.
RATING: C

Scooby-Doo: Where are You? #77
Written by Ivan Cohen and Illustrated by Randy Elliot
These are very fun and not much beyond that. But that’s okay sometimes. I always like reading these. Give them a shot. It’s worth it.
RATING: B+

Death of Hawkman #4
Written by Marc Andreyko and Illustrated by Aaron Lopresti and Rodney Buchemi
This series has been rather unexciting. We haven’t seen a good Hawkman in years…I was hoping it would be this. It’s not.  Maybe one day soon?
RATING: C-

Ever After #5
Written by Dave Justus and Lilah Sturges and Illustrated by Travis G. Moore
This spinoff of Fables is fairly good! I don’t know if I could recommend it to someone who hasn’t read Fables but it’s good all the same. It’s off the cuff, and well done.
RATING: B+

Unfollow #15
Written by Rob Williams and Illustrated by Michael Dowling
A year has passed since the tragic events at Akira’s commune. The 140 are dying at an alarming rate, and the world is now split between Akira’s vision and Rubinstein’s. Things have changed. So has Dave. And when word comes through that Larry Ferrell may in fact be alive, he decides to revisit Ferrell’s island. The hunter is becoming the hunted.  It’s a fairly decent issue and I have to go back and read the other issues and catch up. But this is very good.
RATING: B

The Flintstones #7
Written by Mark Russell and Illustrated by Rick Leonardi
This is a bad story with great art. Leonardi is one of my favorites so it gets an immediate upgrade on the rating. But not that much.
RATING: C-

Kristen Halbert

FOG! Contributor
@talkblerdy •  talkblerdytome.com

Best Movies: Deadpool, Hacksaw Ridge, 13th
Best TV Shows: Atlanta, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Luke Cage
Best Books (fiction): Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling
Best Books (non-fiction): Evicted by Matt Desmond, You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Jessica Williams
Best Video Game: Korean otome Mystic Messenger (Android/ iOS) has me glued to my cell phone
Best Songs: Side to Side (Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj), 24k Magic (Bruno Mars), Gangsta (Kehlani), Sorry (Beyonce)
Best Albums: Lemonade (Beyonce), Anti (Rihanna), Coloring Book (Chance the Rapper)
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Chew, World of Wakanda
Best Podcast: Code Switch (NPR)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Suicide Squad. Comic movie hype machine ruins another somewhat serviceable movie.
Most underrated thing about 2016? 10 Cloverfield Lane, exclusively for John Goodman’s performance
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Luke Cage
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? …Reality?
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Power Rangers!!!! Oh, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Craig Yoe

“Indiana Jones of comics historians.”
@YoeBooks • yoebooks.com

Best Book (non-fiction): Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand

Benn Robbins

FOG! Contributor
@bukket1138 • robbins-studios.com • Facebook.com/robbinsstudios

Best Movies: Kubo and the Two Strings, Neon Demon, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Hail Caesar!  
Best TV Shows: Fresh Off The Boat, Stranger Things, Star Wars Rebels, Bob’s Burgers
Best Books (fiction): Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
Best Books (non-fiction): The Princess Diarist By Carrie Fisher
Best Video Game: Pokemon Go
Best Songs: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” -Regina Spektor on the Kubo and the Two Strings OST
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Barbarella (Jean-Claude Forest and Kelly Sue DeConnick), Providence (Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows), “Howard The Duck” Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones, Head Lopper by Andrew MacLean, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica Henderson,
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Hills Have Eyes Arrow from Arrow Films
Best Podcast: How Did This Get Made?
Most overrated thing about 2016? The Presidential Election
Most underrated thing about 2016? Surviving 2016
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? The Electoral College
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? It not being 2016

Lenny Schwartz

FOG! Columnist
@lennyschwartz • DayDream Theatre C.O & Lenny Schwartz Facebook Page

Best Movies: 10 Cloverfield Lane, Manchester by the Sea
Best TV Shows: The Flash
Best Video Game: The last game I played was Pac-Man
Best Songs: I listen to classical
Best Albums: I like the Beatles White album?
Best Music Video: Heart: Alone
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Wonder Woman: The True Amazon by Jill Thompson
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: McCabe and Mrs Miller Criterion
Most overrated thing about 2016? 3D movies
Most underrated thing about 2016? Kyle Chandler
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Writing ! And shaving my head.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? I hated November.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Writing!

Mike Calahan

Former FOG! Contributor
@mikecalahan • mikecalahan.com

Best Movies: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Nice Guys, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Sing Street
Best TV Shows: Stranger Things, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Best Video Game: Batman Arkham VR (I don’t play video games, but I tested this one out at Best Buy. Great graphics, some vertigo)
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 10
Most overrated thing about 2016? Suicide Squad
Most underrated thing about 2016? Fact-based news
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? New Motorola phones
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  Inauguration Day 2017
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Touring company of Hamilton

 Sharon Knolle

FOG! Contributor
@sknolle

Best Movies: Arrival, Moonlight, Sing Street, Zootopia, Green Room, Hell or High Water
Best TV Shows: Stranger Things, Quarry, Designated Survivor, Michaela (on HLN)
Best Songs: Good With God: Old 97’s with Brandi Carlile, River: Bishop Briggs, Fire: Barns Courtney, Way Down We Go: Kaleo, I Have Been to the Mountain: Kevin Morby
Best Music Video:  The Greatest: King — 8 bit tribute to Muhammad Ali!, Nobody Speak (ft. Run The Jewels) , DJ Shadow -NSFW legislative white guy throwdown!, Dance Off: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (ft. Idris Elba), Lite Spots: Kaytranada – Dancing robot!
Most overrated thing about 2016?:  Gilmore Girls revival
Most underrated thing about 2016?: Andre Holland in Moonlight, Sing Street
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Jason Bourne
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?:   Jason Bourne Nocturnal Animals, American democracy
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?:  Taboo with Tom Hardy, Bladerunner 2049, John Wick: Chapter 2, T2: Trainspotting, Twin Peaks, Iron Fist.

Brian Saner Lamken

Comicologist
brianlamken •blamken.blogspot.com • blamken.tumblr.com

The Best Movies: 13th; Manchester by the Sea; Captain America: Civil War — the whole may have been less than the sum of its parts but most of those parts were so much fun; Arrival; Moana
The Best TV: Roots; a good half or more of Soundbreaking; Luke Cage; the “Invasion!” crossover on Arrow, Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow for the delight it brought my inner 7-year-old, despite its problems; “A Closer Look” on Late Night with Seth Myers, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for how they spoke to my inner (and outer) 46-year-old; Stranger Things
The Best Prose Non-Fiction: I’m gonna say The Daily Show (The Book) even though I’ve barely read any yet
The Best Music: David Bowie’s Blackstar; Adele’s “Send My Love (to Your New Lover)”; Lake Street Dive’s Side Pony; The Monkees’ Good Times just for the sheer fun of it; “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme” from La-La Land
The Best Comics: March Book Three; Scooby-Doo Team-Up #16 with the Shazam/Marvel Family, yes, seriously; the way better late than never Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert collection; Hellboy in Hell Volume 2: The Death Card; Usagi Yojimbo
What Disappointed Me Most in 2016: Where do I even begin?  Batman v. Superman; the X-Files revival except for “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster”; sexist reaction to the new Ghostbusters; the CGI in Rogue One that, well, you know what I mean if you’ve seen it, and it all but ruined whatever enjoyment I got from the film; DC’s Rebirth immediately dampening any spark of interest, let alone hope, it may have ignited in me; the cancellations of Agent Carter and The Nightly Show; worst of all, the fustercluck of personal, family, national, and global adversities, trials, and tragedies that defined the year
What I’m Looking Forward to in 2017: Star Wars Episode VIII; more Marvel movies; the Wonder Woman film; Star Trek: Discovery; Supergirl: Being Super; what folks do for Jack Kirby’s centennial; the launch/relaunch of some personal labors of love

Matt Kennedy

Director La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Former FOG! Contributor
@PodSeq • panikcollective.com

Best Movies: The Witch; Only Yesterday; Anomalisa; Arrival
Best TV Movie or Special: Ali Wong: Baby Cobra
Best TV Shows: Westworld; The Exorcist; The Get Down; Hip Hop Evolution
Best Books (fiction): The Lovecraft Code by Peter Levenda
Best Books (non-fiction):  Modern Art in America 1908-68 by William C. Agee; The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
Best Video Game: Does Pokemon Go count?
Best Songs: No Problem by Chance the Rapper; Your Best American Girl by Mitski; Untitled 02 / 06.23.204 by Kendrick Lamar; Karate by Baby Metal
Best Albums: Blackstar by David Bowie, The Fall of Hearts by Katatonia
Best Music Video: Winalotto by Tommy Cash
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew; the Young Animal line at DC
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Fantastic Planet remastered Criterion Collection DVD
Best Podcast: Pod Sequentialism with Matt Kennedy, of course!
Most overrated thing about 2016? Anything to do with Politics or Kanye West
Most underrated thing about 2016? The danger and power of the Alt Right (unfortunately)
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Panik Collective show at Houston Museum of Drawing
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  The Electoral College
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? The opening of 30 South Gallery in Pasadena, CA

Derf Backderf

Cartoonist
@DerfBackderf • derfcity.com

Best Movies: the only new films I saw were crap
Best TV Shows: Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Best Books (fiction): only read old stuff this year
Best Books (non-fiction): see above
Best Video Game: Not a gamer
Best Songs: Leonard Cohen – “You Want It Darker”, Ghost – “Square Hammer”, The Prophets of Rage – “Prophets of Rage”
Best Albums: Leonard Cohen – “You Want It Darker”, The Rolling Stones – “Blue & Lonesome”, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard- Nonagon Infinity
Best Music Video: don’t watch them
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: “Cheap Novelties: the Pleasures of Urban Decay” by Ben Katchor, “In the Pines: Murder Ballads” by Erik Kriek, “Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Secret Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist” by Bill Griffith, “nod away” by Joshua Cotter, “Tetris” by Box Brown
Best Podcast: WTF with Mark Maron
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Carnival of Souls:the Criterion Collection
Most overrated thing about 2016? Collective intelligence
Most underrated thing about 2016? Assholes
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Attending my first San Diego Comic Con and Eisner Award ceremony.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  Are you fucking kidding me?
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? The My Friend Dahmer movie.

Emma-Jane Corsan

FOG! Contributor
@emmajanecorsan • Youtube.com/cheesemint • Instagram

Best Movies: Kubo And The Two Strings, Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Doctor Strange, The Witch
Best TV Shows: Luke Cage, Westworld, Daredevil s2, Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, Stranger Things
Best Video Game: Dishonored 2, Overwatch, Doom, Pokémon Sun & Moon, Pokémon Go, Titanfall 2
Best Albums: Blackstar – David Bowie, “Awaken, My Love” – Childish Gambino, 10 Years Of Akala – Akala, Strange Little Birds – Garbage, A Seat At The Table – Solange Knowles, A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead
Best Music Video: Lazarus by David Bowie (dir: Johan Renck)
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Shamefully, I have read very little this year other than my Deadpool singles but I did also enjoy Visions written by British poet and rapper Akala and illustrated by J.C. Baez
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Dreams by Akira Kurosawa (the new, restored 4K digital transfer came out this year!), the extras and behind the scenes footage on both the Deadpool and Star Trek Beyond Blu-rays were also great and I didn’t get one but the entirety of The Twilight Zone on Blu-ray is on my wishlist.
Best Podcast: The Super 8-Bit Power Hour, The Adam Buxton Podcast, Philosophize This, Barshens Podcast
Most overrated thing about 2016? As always, reality TV and pointless celebrity gossip. How is this stuff so popular?!
Most underrated thing about 2016? The various scientific discoveries and continued space exploration – so much happened yet it was barely reported on!
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? I discovered through my DNA that my heritage is far more interesting than I thought. I’m only 63% British!
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? Brexit, Trump winning the US election, the Syrian refugee crisis, the rise of MRAs, a notable increase in racist attacks in the UK and ongoing war that has destroyed entire cities and historical UNESCO sites…..so in a nutshell I guess; Humanity. And of course David Bowie’s death, along with countless other talented, inspirational people this year, has left 2016 feeling like the worst year I’ve experienced so far in my life on this tiny, dumb planet.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017: Finally visiting Japan in October-November 2017 with my husband and two friends. I also can’t wait to finish our (Cheesemint Productions) feature film Sariel and our upcoming kickstarted short film, The Titan’s Eagle (which is about a 17th century alchemist who gets himself stuck in a time loop. I also look forward to seeing more hope, love and kindness around in the face of so much uncertainty because I’m not ready to give up on humanity just yet!

Alex C. Telander

Former FOG! Contributor
@bookbanter • The Ostium Podcast

Best TV Shows:  National Geographic Channel’s Mars
Best Books (fiction): Goldenhand by Garth Nix, Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson, Bluescreen by Dan Wells, Rise: The Newsflesh Collection by Mira Grant, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Best Books (non-fiction): Not Dead Yet by Phil Collins, The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond, Grunt by Mary Roach
Best Albums: The Fall of a Rebel Angel by Enigma
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Saga Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan
Best Podcast: Bright Sessions, Mabel, The Box, LifeAfter

Dean Galanis

FOG! Contributor

Best Movies: Swiss Army Man, The Witch, The Bad Kids
Best TV Shows: The People v. OJ Simpson, Westworld
Best Blu-Ray: Killer Dames Collection, CHUD, Tenebrae
Best Podcast: WTF with Marc Maron, The Canon, Columbo Case Files, Supporting Characters
Most Overrated: Sausage Party, Captain America: Civil War
Most Underrated: Before I Wake

Atlee Greene

Former FOG! Contributor
@atleegreene • thegreenescreen.net

Best Movies: Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Arrival, The Nice Guys, The Jungle Book, Zootopia, Star Trek Beyond, Kubo and the Two Strings, Solace
Best TV Shows: Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson, Empire, The Flash, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Modern Family, Timeless
Best Books (fiction): Star Wars: Bloodlines, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Darth Vader, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Supergirl, DC Comics: Rebirth, Black Panther, House of Penance
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, WrestleMania 32, Independence Day: Resurgence
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? WrestleMania 33, Star Wars: Episode VIII, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Justice League

Joe Keatinge

Comic Book Writer; Ringside, Shutter
joekeatinge.com

Best Movies: The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith
Best TV Shows: Baskets
Best Books (fiction): Re-reading John Fowles’ The Magus
Best Books (non-fiction): Steering The Craft: A Twenty-First Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K Le Guin
Best Songs: “Hold Up: by Beyoncé, Lemonade
Best Albums: Beyoncé’s Lemonade
Best Music Video: Lemonade by Beyoncé
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Mirror by Hwei Lim and Emma Ríos, Image Comics
Best Podcast: Comedy Bang Bang
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Criterion’s Lone Wolf and Cub
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Everyone being alive.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   Everyone dying.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Everyone not dying.

Andre Bennett

FOG! Contributor
@frankiethirteen

Best Movies: Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best TV Shows: FX’s Atlanta was my clear favorite of the year, and my choice for best show of 2016. Season 3 of Netflix’s BoJack Horseman was a very close second, and indeed, its mostly silent underwater episode is one of the best TV episodes of the year. Past that, I also enjoyed Lucha Underground, Luke Cage, the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, and the Tom Hanks and Dave Chappelle episodes of SNL
Best Songs: David Bowie, “Blackstar,” “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore,” “I Can’t Give Everything Away”; Roisin Murphy, “Mastermind,” “Ten Miles High”; Phantogram, “Same Old Blues”; A Tribe Called Quest, “We the People,” “The Space Program;” Justice, “Safe and Sound”; Kanye West, “I Love Kanye”; The Weeknd feat. Daft Punk, “Starboy”
Best Albums: David Bowie, “Blackstar”; Roisin Murphy, “Take Her Up to Monto”; Justice, “Woman”; Phantogram, “Three”; A Tribe Called Quest, “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service”
Best Podcast: 99% Invisible, Scriptnotes
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? The new David Bowie album
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? The death of David Bowie–replace disappointed with shattered
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Steven Scott

Former FOG! Contributor, Writer, Publicist
@scott_duvall

Best Movies: Arrival, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War, Hell or High Water,
Best TV Shows: Westworld, Veep, Silicon Valley, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Best Podcast: Batman: The Animated Podcast, Everything’s Turning Up Podcast, The Down and Nerdy Podcast, The Third Men Podcast, Hollywood Babble On, Word Balloon
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? X-Men: Apocalypse
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Star Wars: Episode VIII

Jerry Dennis

Co-host, co-creator and co-producer Movie Geeks United
@Jerryd70 • moviegeeksunited.net

Best Movies: The Neon Demon, Green Room, American Honey, The Nice Guys, De Palma, The Lobster, The Handmaiden, Manchester By The Sea, Blood Father, Nocturnal Animals, The Edge Of Seventeen
Best TV Shows: Quarry, Atlanta, Better Things, The Night Of, The OA, The Crown, Black Mirror
Best Books (fiction): Bright Precious Days by Jay McInerney, but read a lot of older fiction last year.
Best Books (non-fiction): Brian DePalma’s Split Screen by Douglas Keesey, Illeana Douglas’ I Blame Dennis Hopper
Best Albums: PJ Harvey The Hope Demolition Project, The Deftones Gore
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Fight Club 2
Best Podcast: I am going to be very partial to my own here, Movie Geeks United. But also The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast and WTF with Mddvarc Maron.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: All the Criterion releases especially McCabe And Mrs. Miller, Punch Drunk Love and Pan’s Labyrinth
Most overrated thing about 2016? TV is better film
Most underrated thing about 2016? Movies are still killing it if you know where to look.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? The new movie releases.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   The loss of too many great people!
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Star Wars: Episode VIII!!

George Khoury

Pop Culture Historian
@ComicBKFever

Best Movies: The Nice Guys, Zootopia
Best TV Shows: Stranger Things, Ash vs. Evil Dead, The Crown, Game of Thrones,  Late Night with Seth Myers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Best Books (fiction):  Jerusalem by Alan Moore
Best Books (non-fiction): The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
Best Video Game: NBA2K17
Best Songs: “This is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris and Rihanna; “She Makes Me Laugh” by The Monkees
Best Podcast: Maltin on Movies
Best Albums: “Good Times” by The Monkees
Best Music Video: “She Makes Me Laugh” by The Monkees
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Ghost by Raina Telgemeier
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: One-Eyed Jacks (Criterion)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Most underrated thing about 2016? The Nice Guys
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? The season finale of Game of Thrones
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   The Election
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? The Blu-ray release of The Abyss.

Happy New Yoe!

This year Craig Yoe, whom USA Today calls, “The comic book genre’s master archaeologist,” begins another chapter in “Making Comics History.” Yoe produced his first publication on comics history 50 years ago! This was a fanzine he printed on a hand-cranked mimeograph machine in his parents’ basement. 2017 will be a yearlong Golden Anniversary Celebration of Craig Yoe’s digging into comics history and sharing his findings with comics lovers!

Yoe was a teenage hippie peacenik in the 1960s and called his first foray into publishing “Yoessarian”, a play on the name of his fictional hero Yossarian of the anti-war novel “Catch-22”. Yoe was part of a group who assembled fanzines together under the umbrella CAPA-alpha. CAPA-alpha was started by one of the founders of comics fandom, Jerry Bails. Other participants included Don and Maggie Thompson, Bill Blackbeard, and Wendy and Richard Pini.

Yoe says, “I never lost my passion for comics or publishing about them but, career-wise, I got distracted.” Those distractions included being a hippie nightclub owner, a long-haired Christian minister, a toy inventor with six patents in his name, and a creative director for Disney and Nickelodeon. In addition to being the Vice President General Manager of The Muppets and head of the Muppet Creature Shop, Yoe was a creative director for The Muppets, too. He drew the initial character sketches for the Dinosaurs TV show and design for the Muppet Disney World theme park attraction. Jim Henson said at the time, “Craig brings with him his valuable creativity and enthusiasm. He has a nice mix of business and creative talent!”

After Henson’s passing, Yoe started his own creative shop, Yoe Studio. He took on a full creative and business partner in the studio—and a life partner—when he met his future wife Clizia Gussoni at the renowned Lucca Comics and Games convention in Italy, which included an exhibit from Yoe’s groundbreaking book The Art of Mickey Mouse. The book commissioned and assembled interpretations of the world’s most famous rodent by Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and even the gloved one himself, Michael Jackson!

The New York Times exclaimed, “Yoe Studio has designed logos, toys, advertising, and websites for a list of clients that reads like the Fortune 500!” Those clients included Microsoft, Mattel, Marvel, DC Comics, Pepsi, ToysRUs, and the United Nations. For MTV, he created their heaviest rotated station ID that garnered a Mobius in addition to other esteemed awards (Yoe’s storyboard was animated by the famed J.J. Sedelmaier Productions).

For Mudd Jeans, Yoe created a pocketsize magazine in which he published interviews with *NSYNC, Usher, and Pink as well as the first ever interview with Britney Spears. Yoe Studio also produced the Big Boy comic book for the restaurant chain and Yoe got Steve Ditko to draw an issue!

But Craig Yoe had a hankering to get back to his first love in popular culture, comics. He edited a series of books called Arf, about arcane geniuses of the field. Then, he tackled a well-known figure, the seminal artist of Superman, in regard to a previously unknown aspect of his career. The book, “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster”, whipped up excitement around the world, its publication even making the front page of USA Today. Yoe was interviewed on Fox News and on Terry Gross’ NPR show, “Fresh Air”. The revelation that Superman’s artist did porn was breathless news in “Time” and “Playboy”. “Vice” magazine proclaimed, “Craig Yoe is an Indiana Jones for perv/nerd artifacts!”

“Secret Identity” was introduced by Stan Lee while other books by Yoe have sported introductions by John Updike, R. Crumb, Adam West, Bill Watterson, Jerry Only of the Misfits, and Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile—as they say in the comics—Greg Goldstein had joined the comics and media company IDW Publishing and one of his first moves was, along with Ted Adams, to ink a deal with Craig Yoe and Clizia Gussoni to start the imprint Yoe Books. In six years Yoe Books has published over 60 books of classic comics highlighting artists like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Walt Kelly, Joe Kubert, Milt Gross, Carl Barks, Otto Messmer, Billy DeBeck, Dick Briefer, Bud Sagendorf, John Kricfalusi, Dan DeCarlo, and Frank Frazetta. The collections have featured horror, humor, kids comics, fantasy, and romance.

Yoe has twice been awarded the prestigious Eisner Award—one for the book “Walt Kelly’s Fairy Tale”s and one for a line of over 150 classic comic character statues Yoe Studio has designed for Dark Horse. Yoe also has received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, a Mobius, and the Jerry Bails Fandom Award.

Of all of them, Yoe is proudest of the awards and recognition for The School of Five comic books, published in 26 countries, in 23 languages in over 40 million copies (world record comics circulation). These colorful superhero comics, done in conjunction with Unilever and various social mission organizations, teach children in developing countries the importance of washing their hands to prevent deaths from diarrheal diseases. The comics are saving countless lives.

Craig Yoe and Yoe Books have garnered high praise:

ABC News called Craig Yoe ”America’s Foremost Comics Historian!”

MTV opined, ”If you’re a comic book lover and are looking for the perfect ‘coffee table’ tome for your rad crash pad, seek no further than Yoe Books and their swank collection of retro favorites—from the wacky to the bizarre! Yoe is an exceptional comics historian, unearthing fascinating comics!”

Boing Boing stated, ”Craig Yoe is a fine cartoonist and a comic book historian of the first water!”
The Library journal calls Yoe Books publications,” Wildly creative historical comic collections!” “Scale breaking!” and “Beautifully produced!”

Actor and pop culture icon Mark Hamill has tweeted, “I keep buying books from Yoe Books as gifts, then keeping them for myself! Check it out: http://YoeBooks.com”

Speaking for himself, Yoe states, “After 50 years of this, it’s probably time to grow up and get serious about this work. In the celebratory year ahead, Clizia and I will continue with IDW and the valued friends that work with us to mine comics’ past for gold. But we will also be producing books on contemporary lowbrow artists. Our first in the Yoe Brow/IDW line, “Inks, Drinks, and Catfinks: The Custom Cartoon Art of Shawn Dickinson”, was a resounding success. Dickinson, by the way, created our 50th Anniversary logo. And we are looking to the future. This year will be the start of the Yoe GN/Top Shelf line of original graphic novels starting with Dave Calver’s amazing and surreal “Limbo Lounge”. “Limbo Lounge” will be followed by other way cool graphic novels with our sensibility by other stupendous talents.”

As part of the 2017 year celebrating 50 Years of Making Comics History, Craig Yoe is available for interviews and comic convention appearances. Yoe Books (A Proud Imprint of IDW) has a website: http://YoeBooks.com and a Youtube channel: The Yoe Tube at http://tinyurl.com/jzvs7t3

Diamond Select Toys prides itself on offering the best of all worlds, and the newest offerings from DST come from a whole bunch of worlds! From the world of television, new figures from Gotham, iZombie and Luke Cage! From the world of comics, figures of Gwenpool, Lady Deadpool and Wolverine! From animation, new Catwoman and Aquaman collectibles! And from the movies, a new Back to the Future Time Machine! Read on for more info, and reserve yours at your local comic shop, or order online!

Back to the Future 2 Frozen Hover Time Machine Electronic Vehicle

A Diamond Select Toys release! Is it hot? No, it’s ice cold! DST has upgraded their bestselling electronic 1:15 scale Time Machine from Back to the Future with the additions shown in Batck to the Future 2! Having just arrived in our time from 2015, this Version 2 Time Machine has adjustable hover wheels, the iconic Mr. Fusion fuel device, and a thin coating of “frost” over its entire surface, to replicate the effects of time travel. Vehicle measures approximately 14 inches long with opening gull-wing doors, and time-travel lights and sounds are triggered at the push of a button. Packaged in a full-color window box. (Item # DEC162558, SRP: $59.99)

Batman Classic TV Series Catwoman Season 3 Bust

A Diamond Select Toys Release! This tiger has changed its stripes! Like many of Batman’s classic foes from the 1960s TV series, Catwoman underwent several metamorphoses over the run of the show, and in Season 3, she was played by sultry singer Eartha Kitt! This 6-inch-tall resin bust depicts Kitt as Catwoman, perched atop a colorful base inspired by the show’s animated opening credits. It’s the purr-fect addition to your Batman Classic TV Series bust collection! Packaged in a full-color box with a certificate of authenticity. Designed by Barry Bradfield! Sculpted by Jean St. Jean! (Item # DEC162560, SRP: $59.99)

DC Gallery Batman New Adventures Catwoman PVC Diorama

A Diamond Select Toys Release! We’ve never been more excited for a black cat to cross our path! This black-costumed rendition of Catwoman is based on her drastically different appearance in the fourth season of Batman: The Animated Series (titled New Batman Adventures). Standing approximately 10 inches tall, this all-new sculpt shows off her darker, more dangerous look, with pale skin and wielding a whip. This PVC figure features detailed sculpting and paint applications, and comes packaged in a full-color window box. Sculpted by Varner Studios! (Item # DEC162561, SRP: $45.00)

Gotham TV Select Action Figures Series 4 Asst

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Gotham! The critically acclaimed action figure line based on the hit Fox TV series serves up the Wrath of the Villains, with three new 7” scale figures of Gotham’s most dangerous men! Azrael, Mr. Freeze and Professor Hugo Strange each feature up to 16 points of articulation as well as character-appropriate accessories, and each comes with an awesome diorama piece inspired by the show! Hugo Strange comes with the conditioning chair from Arkham Asylum, and Freeze and Azrael each come with part of the jail cell from the Gotham City Police Department! Collect them both to build the diorama and put them in a cell where they belong! Packaged in the display-ready Select packaging with side panel artwork for shelf reference. Sculpted by Gentle Giant! (Item # DEC162557, SRP: $24.99/ea.)

iZombie TV Liv Moore Season 2 Action Figure

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Liv Moore is back from the dead! Again! The iZombie action figure line returns with an all-new Liv Moore action figure based on her appearance in Season 2! This new 6.5” action figure of TV’s most popular undead medical examiner features a new outfit and head sculpt, plus all-new accessories taken straight from episodes of the show, including a phone, mug, purse, rat and more! This figure features approximately 16 points of articulation, and comes packaged in a full-color blister card. Sculpted by Gentle Giant! (Item # DEC162559, SRP: $19.99)

Justice League Animated Aquaman Resin Bust

A Diamond Select Toys Release! All hail the king of Atlantis! Based on his appearance in the classic Justice League animated series, this 6.5-inch resin bust of Arthur Curry, a.k.a. Aquaman, features detailed sculpting and paint, The part-time Justice Leaguer and full-time monarch of the Seven Seas sits atop a pedestal base inspired by the League’s Watchtower satellite. Limited to 3,000 pieces, it comes packaged in a full-color box with a certificate of authenticity. Sculpted by Varner Studios! (Item # DEC162563, SRP: $59.99)

Marvel Gallery Gwenpool PVC Diorama

A Diamond Select Toys Release! When Gwenpool takes a selfie, it’s time to practice your selfie-defense! Coming from a world where everyone in the Marvel Universe is just a comic book character, Gwen Poole is a rookie mercenary on the rise, and she feels no guilt when her targets are fictional! This 9-inch sculpture, the first merchandise ever made of the hot new character, is made out of PVC plastic and features detailed sculpting and paint, atop a circular Gwenpool logo base. In scale to all Gallery and Femme Fatales PVC figures, Gwenpool comes packaged in a full-color window box. Sculpted by Alejandro Pereira! (Item # DEC162562, SRP: $45.00

Marvel Minimates Series 72 Wolverine Comic Asst.

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Wolverine is the best he is at what he does, and his enemies aren’t bad at it, either! This all-new assortment of Marvel Minimates is based on the rich comic book history of Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine, and features four different two-packs: Weapon X Wolverine vs. Lady Deathstrike, the first-ever Minimates of Mojo and Spiral, Ninja Attack Wolverine vs. a Hand Ninja, and the Silver Samurai vs. a Hand Ninja! Each 2-inch mini-figure features up to 14 points of articulation and fully interchangeable parts, including removable helmets, armor and weapons! Each 2-pack comes packaged in a full-color window box. (Item # DEC162568, SRP $9.99/ea.)

Marvel Minimates Luke Cage TV Series 1 Box Set

A Diamond Select Toys Release! Say his name! The newest Marvel TV star is Luke Cage, a.k.a. Power Man, and the Marvel Minimates line is celebrating the release of his first season with a box set of Minimates based on the Netflix series! Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Cottonmouth and Mariah Dillard each measure approximately 2 inches tall and feature up to 14 points of articulation. Each figure features interchangeable parts and accessories, and Luke Cage can transform from his hooded streetwear to his post-experiment Power Man look! Figures come packaged in a full-color window box. (Item # DEC162569, SRP: $24.99)

Marvel Premier Collection Thanos Statue

A Diamond Select Toys Release! The Mad Titan stands triumphant! With the Cosmic Cube in one raised hand and the Infinity Gauntlet on the other, there is no whim that cannot be granted to Thanos of Titan. This approximately 12” tall statue of Thanos shows him at his most powerful, wearing his classic costume, and places him atop a diorama base. Limited to only 3,000 pieces, this statue includes an interchangeable clenched right fist, without the Cosmic Cube. Statue comes packaged in a full-color box with a certificate of authenticity. Sculpted by Clayburn Moore! (Item# DEC162576, SRP: $150.00)

Marvel Retro Cloth Punisher Action Figure Gift Set

A Diamond Select Toys release! Is the Marvel Retro line ready for…The Punisher?! Never released in the classic Mego toy line of yester-year, violent vigilante The Punisher is the latest Marvel character to get the 8-inch Retro action figure treatment from DST! This gift set features one classically-styled white-gloved Punisher figure, in a vintage-style box, plus two additional heads and outfits: a bandaged head with a trenchcoat and bullet-proof vest, and the civilian streetwear of veteran Frank Castle! With interchangeable heads, hands, costumes and accessories, you can display your Punisher however you want! Packaged in a full-color gift tray! Designed and sculpted by EMCE Toys! (Item# DEC162577, SRP: $80.00)

Marvel Select Lady Deadpool Action Figure

A Diamond Select Toys release! The Marvel Select line just got a lot more lethal! The Deadpool from parallel Earth-3010, Wanda Wilson is a part of the rebellion against a fascistic US government, but she’s just as deadly as her 616 counterpart! This approximately 6.5” action figure features 16 points of articulation, as well as a diorama base and accessories including swords, a bazooka and Headpool! (Item # DEC162578, SRP: $24.99)

Find your nearest comic shop at comicshoplocator.com!

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s been one incredible year in comic books. I can’t believe the quality of the books coming out these days. Which are the best, you ask? I hate these lists because I always forget a lot of things.

Still…Here is my top ten of 2016!

10. DC Comics: Rebirth
Published by DC Comics 

The whole line improved because of this and we got some great stories and great issues. With Watchmen around the corner, 2017 looks to be great! Deathstroke is the standout in this line!

9. Wonder Woman: The True Amazon
Published by DC Comics

Jill Thompson created a hell of a graphic novel here. It is well written and well drawn. Grant Morrison’s Wonder Woman Earth One came out earlier in the year and was very good too…but this was the best Wonder Woman story I’ve read…maybe ever.

8. Moon Knight
Published by Marvel Comics 

The rebooted Moon Knight over at Marvel gives us the Moon Knight we have always wanted…and Jeff Lemire had written something great here. Greg Smallwood does excellent on art as well. This is some cool crazy stuff.

7. March: Book Three 
Published by Top Shelf Comics

The final chapter of the March story, about John Lewis’s life is incredible. The writing by Lewis and Andrew Aydin is great. The art and storytelling by Mr. Nathan Powell however is extraordinary. This book is something every comic book reader should read…as well as every human being.
6. Cosplayers
Published by Fantagraphics

Written and Illustrated by Dash Shaw, this book is pure awesomeness. I never had read a book by Shaw before this…this book made me go out and buy everything he ever did.

It’s heartfelt and fun and brilliant.

5. Doctor Strange Omnibus
Published by Marvel Comics

This book reprints the classic Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Doctor Strange comics from the 60s. I know it’s been reprinted before but this volume is handsome and gorgeous to hold. Worth buying and rereading!

4. Love Addict: Confessions of a Serial Dater
Published by Top Shelf Comics

Koren Shadmi writes and Illustrates this painful look at modern dating. It’s a personal semi autobiographical piece, and it’s funny, hard to watch, and perfect. Make sure to pick this up. Shadmi is one of the best we have.

3. Dark Knight: A True Batman Story
Published by DC Comics

This story penned by Paul Dini is heartbreaking. The art by Eduardo Risso perfectly compliments it. I cannot recommend this enough. Paul Dini shares his story about his mugging and doesn’t hold back. It’s honest, raw, and one of the best stories you’ll ever read.

2. Patience 
Published by Fantagraphics

Daniel Clowes writes and illustrates this incredible time travel tale. I couldn’t put this down. Everything Clowes does is magic. This one certainly is. Original and well done. Every library should have this in it.

1. If You Steal 
Published by Fantagraphics

Norwegian comic book writer/artist Jason nabs the top spot for me. This book may have been released in late 2015…but it didn’t make it my way until about June 2016. This book gets the top spot because it reinvents what you know about comic books. And storytelling in general. Recommended.

And that’s it! Some books were strong runner ups (A.D. After Death by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire comes to mind) but this is my list…but there were so many more!

Attention fartknockers!  Creator Mike Judge’s beloved slackers are back in BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD: The Complete Collection, coming to DVD February 14, 2017.  When Beavis and Butt-Head first appeared on MTV more than a decade ago, critics dismissed them as brainless couch potatoes who did nothing but watch TV and make lewd jokes about bodily functions. Today we know they were ahead of their time. Beavis and Butt-Head’s unique idiocy profoundly changed television, movies, pop culture and the world.

Now, America’s favorite culture critics are back in this comprehensive new collection to tell us all exactly what sucks.  Housing everything in one set for the first time ever, BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD: The Complete Collection includes all four volumes of the acclaimed television series—including the boys’ triumphant return in 2011—as well as the Special Collector’s Edition of the fan-favorite movie Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.  In addition, the 12-DVD set boasts a wealth of bonus material including “Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis and Butt-Head” Parts 1-3, VMA appearances, a Thanksgiving Special with Kurt Loder, the 1994-1996 Butt-Bowls, MTV 20^th Anniversary Special, the original, un-cut “Frog Baseball,” a 2011 Comic-Con panel featuring Mike Judge and moderator Johnny Knoxville, promos, montages, and much, much more. BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD: The Complete Collection has a suggested retail price of $46.99.

Get a kung-fu grip on yourself as Geof Darrow’s blood-spattered killing machine the Shaolin Cowboy returns this April in a new four-issue mini-series to be published by Dark Horse Comics. The Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign? will be written and illustrated by Darrow, who has won the Inkpot Award and won (and lost) multiple Eisner Awards, and colored by the Eisner Award-winning Dave Stewart. The first issue will have a main cover by Darrow and Stewart and a variant cover by the award-winning Frank Miller, Darrow’s co-contributor on Hard Boiled and Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot. In The Shaolin Cowboy: Who’ll Stop the Reign?, the titular hero of the series finds that his road to hell is paved not with good intentions but old nemeses hell bent on bloody revenge.

In addition to the chainsaw-fueled adventures of the Shaolin Cowboy, Darrow is renowned for his early work with Moebius, his designs for television (including Super Friends, Richie Rich, and Pac-Man) and films (including The Matrix and Speed Racer), his collaborations with Frank Miller and Andrew Vachss, and his iconic and detailed comic book covers.

“For a press release about a comic known for not having much dialogue, this press release sure has a lot of words in it,” said Darrow.

Before he was a Three-time Eisner Award winner, Geof Darrow was born in Cedar Rapids, IA. He is an ex-altar boy, garden mechanic and boom operator on a soft-core adult film. He resides in Chicago IL and his artwork inspires and disillusions  fans and artists alike:

“Obsessively detailed, hysterically ultraviolent … Darrow has no truck with fripperies like plot, which would only get in the way of his exceptional draftsmanship and genius for staging Grand Guignol fight scenes.”—NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“No one draws violence quite like Geof Darrow, and nothing he’s drawn is quite as violent as his latest graphic novel.”—NY MAG’s VULTURE

“Shaolin Cowboy has always been a little on the crazy side. Okay, a lot on the crazy side.”—IGN

“Mind-blowing.”—PASTE MAGAZINE

“Completely ridiculous—and 100% amazing.”—io9

“A cold shower wake up call to those who forgot that there are pictures that go with all of the colorful rhetoric.”—AIN’T IT COOL NEWS

“Who says you can’t learn things from comic books? For example, in “Shaolin Cowboy” … I’ve learned that monks aren’t too chatty.—BLOODY DISGUSTING

“To say that Geof Darrow is unique is a bit of an understatement. I think he’s just plain brilliant.”—Mike Mignola

Ray Harrington

Comedian; Director, Be A Man
@RayHarrington • rayharringtoncomedy.com

Best Movies: The Nice Guys, The Handmaiden, Don’t Breathe
Best TV Shows: Fleabag, Horace & Pete, High Maintenance, Silicon Valley, Black Mirror, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
Best Video Game: Fallout 4
Best Albums: Wilco – Wilco Schmilco, Lvl Up – Hoodwink’d
Best Podcast: Reply All
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Paper Girls, Vision
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Star Wars: The Force Awakens (didn’t see it until January)
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?  The eighth Fast and Furious film, The Fate of the Furious.

Elizabeth Weitz

Former FOG! Editor
@ebethisawesome

Best TV Shows: The OA, Stranger Things, The Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life
Best Books (fiction): The Girls by Emma Cline
Best Books (non-fiction): Atlas Oscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders– Joshua Foer, Ella Morton and Dylan Thuras
Best Video Game: Slayaway Camp (PC)
Best Songs: Future Mixtape for the Art Kids– Beach Slang
Best Albums: A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings– Beach Slang
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The X-Files: Complete Series + The Event Series
Most overrated thing about 2016? That mannequin challenge thing.
Most underrated thing about 2016? The Exorcist TV show and the movie Don’t Think Twice. They were brilliant and deserved a lot more press than they got.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Hillary Clinton presidency
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   A Trump presidency
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Zombie apocalypse (oh please let it happen)

Joe Peacock

Writer; Akira-ologist, Occasional FOG! Contributor
@joethepeacock • joepeacock.com

Best Movies: The Arrival, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best TV Shows: Soliloquy Of Chaos, the Method Man episode of Luke Cage
Best Video Game: Titanfall 2, Legend of the Tomb Raider
Best Albums: Awaken, My Love! by Childish Gambino, Blank Banshee by Mega
Best Music Video: These still exist? In that case I’m sure whatever album OK GO released had a video and it was probably a good video
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Red Thorn, Silk
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Cowboy Bebop (the Funimation release)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Pizzagate
Most underrated thing about 2016? The NHL – seriously it doesn’t suck anymore and is genuinely fun to watch again
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? December 31st
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   Literally the entire year
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? It won’t be 2016 anymore

Val D’Orazio

FOG! Columnist
@StuffValWrites • butterflylanguage.com

Best Movies: Hail, Caesar!, Abbott and Costello Go To Mars
Best TV Shows:  Mr. Robot, We Bare Bears
Best Books (non-fiction): Prometheus Rising & Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson (new editions)
Best Songs:  “Me and Magdalena,” The Monkees
Best Albums: “Good Times,” The Monkees
Best Music Video:  “You Bring The Summer,” The Monkees
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels:  Batman ’66 Meets The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Best Podcast: Film and Water podcast
Most overrated thing about 2016?  Fear
Most underrated thing about 2016? Potential
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? 2017
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   Carrie Fisher’s death, but then I knew she was going to be with Debbie Reynolds and I felt they were both going to be OK.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?  All the cool stuff to read and write about.

Jess Nevins

Writer; Pop Culture Encyclopedist
@jessnevins • My new book, The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger

Best Movies: Out of genre, Moonlight; in genre, The Witch
Best TV Shows: Out of genre, Atlanta; in genre, Westworld
Best Books (fiction): Out of genre, Karan Mahajan’s The Association of Small Bombs; in genre, M. Suddain’s Hunters and Collectors
Best Books (non-fiction): Out of genre, Joshua Hammer’s The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; in genre, Kameron Hurley’s The Geek Feminist Revolution
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: General, Sarah Glidden’s Rolling Blackouts; Superhero, Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Wata’s Vision
Best Podcast: Hold My Order, Terrible Dresser
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? Richard Price’s The Whites
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Annihilation, the film made out of Jeff VanderMeer’s excellent book of the same name.

Marvin C. Pittman

FOG! Contributor
@marvinpittman

Best Movies: Moonlight, O.J.: Made in America, Suicide Squad
Best TV Shows: Atlanta, Insecure, Supergirl, Veep, Dancing with the Stars (yeah, I said it)
Best Songs: “Lazarus” by David Bowie, “Ultra Light Beam” by Kanye West, “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars, “In God’s House” by Bats for Lashes, “Run Red Blood” by Phantogram, “Dr. Ford” by Rawan Djawadi (Westworld soundtrack)
Best Albums: What a good year for new music, so picking maximum of six is tough. “Malibu” by Anderson Paak, “Blackstar” by David Bowie, “Anti” by Rihanna, “Lemonade” by Beyonce, “Freetown Sound” by Blood Orange, “The Life of Pablo” by Kanye West
Best Music Video: Lemonade by Beyonce — the entire project
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Lazarus, The Legend of Wonder Woman, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Batman (pre-Rebirth)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Westworld
Most underrated thing about 2016? The Good Place
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Black Panther’s cinematic debut in Captain America: Civil War
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? South Park
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Wonder Woman, but gonna cheat by adding Star Wars Episode VIII (RIP Carrie Fisher!)

Kaare Andrews

Filmmaker; Comic Book Writer/Artist, Renato Jones: THE ONE%
@kaareandrews

2016 was a creative year for me. One full of firsts. New endeavors, new challenges and even new lives! (Our third child came to life this past year). I had my first real creator owned comicbook hit the stands with Renato Jones from Image Comics. I had my first real run at directing TV with shows like Aftermath for SyFy. We voted a new Prime Minister here in Canada and my neighbors voted themselves in a new apocalypse– I mean, President!

Best Movies: This is a depressing subject matter for me. When I look back at this past year I can’t think of any movies that really changed my life. This can partly be blamed on being housebound by the new baby but mostly blamed by the lack of great movies made this year. Alien: Covenant, can you please come quickly?
Best TV Shows:  And here is where the revolution begins. A wealth of content. So much content! So much great storytelling! From production values rivaling giant blockbusters, the kind of nudity not allowed in cinema anymore, daring storytelling once reserved for Art House feature filmmaking. Let’s start with one of the TV shows I had a chance to direct on, Aftermath for SyFy. A scrappy show that took big swings. I ended up with my favorite episode I’ve ever directed for television and one of my favorite scenes I’ve directed for any medium. But other shows that I’ve enjoyed as a spectator only include (in no particular order); Stranger Things, Homeland, Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, Zoo, Lucifer, Walking Dead, Westworld… and that’s just off the top of my head.
Best Books (fiction): Not too much time for reading fiction right now. If I said The Complete Chronicles of Conan would that be cheating? That may have also been my answer last year, if you catch my meaning.
Best Books (non-fiction):  The Art of He-Man and The Masters of The Universe is amazing. I love this kind of historical pop account of one of my favorite cartoons. The only drawback is that because this is an officially licensed book, it fails to account for the fact that He-Man actually came about because Mattel had the Conan license before realizing how violent the movie would become and decided to keep the designs and turn them into a new property. At least, that’s how I’ve heard it… and it makes sense. I wish there was a more definitive version of those events but for now, this will do.
Best Video Game: Much like fiction, this is an area in my life that took a hiatus in 2016. But I will be back! My calloused thumbs will be rebuilt!
Best Songs:  There is this random single that I bumped into on YouTube by one of the actors of the upcoming Pacific Rim 2 that I can’t get out of my head. Look for Fallin by Cailee Spaeny on YouTube or iTunes. It’s poppy and weird and romantic and a little bit ‘off’. It isn’t often you stumble across something on the internet these days in a pure and honest way, without being guided by social medias. This was one of those anomalies…
Best Albums: I found myself listening to the synth-mazing album Reality Check by Wojiech Golczewski every time I sat down to write a particular script. I love it. In the pop world, one of my favorites (and not just ’cause we’re buds) is of course Tegan and Sara. And their new album Love You To Death is a pop mash-sterpiece of then and now.
Best Podcast: So many amazing podcasts going on right now. My personal favorites of 2016 include The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast and Script Notes for film, for comics I probably listen to John Siuntres’ Word Balloon more than anything else, but there are many great interviews on Pop Culture Hound. I find myself listening to Star Talk Radio, The Joe Rogan Podcast and two amazing true crime podcasts out of Canada are CBC’s Someone Knows Something and Missing & Murdered. Oh, just started getting into Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. There is a lot of great things in podcasting right now. There’s not a lot of money in it but a lot of passion. Two necessary things for great work to emerge.
Best Music Video:  Do they still make these things? I guess I found that OK GO high speed YouTube video fairly interesting… but not enough to watch more than once. An art form taking a breather?…
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels:  Oh, what a time to read comics! Much like television, just a tidal wave of amazingly creative work by amazingly creative people! I wouldn’t be being honest if I didn’t put my own books in here– because I’m so damn proud of them! Renato Jones from Image Comics and The Black Sinister (drawn by Troy Nixey, colored by Dave McCaig, and found in Dark Horse Presents) have to make the list. Some of my other pics also include; Saga, Black Science, Reborn and Amulet.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release:  I find myself turning to iTunes downloads more and more but a couple of Blu-rays I found myself purchasing include the extended versions of Batman v Superman and the collector’s version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Most overrated thing about 2016? Hope.
Most underrated thing about 2016?  Hope.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016?  If I didn’t say my new child I would be a very bad person. Could it be a tie with my new Cintiq?
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   The fragility of friendship and the fragility of the mind. It’s hard to watch people you care about descend into some sort of dark place. You look for reasons and sometimes there just aren’t any. Hold onto the people in your life now, for as long as they’ll let you…
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?  In all honesty, I stare at America with wide eyed curiosity. I think of all the amazing things that the Reagan era of the 80’s gave to us and wonder what kind of Art and Artmaking this new situation down below will create. In many ways there is a new world about to begin and new energy to tap into. If we survive it, I expect many good things!

Josh Hadley

FOG! Columnist
@beyond1201  • 1201beyond.com

Best Movies:

• Synchronicity. One of the smartest and most clever SF films in years.
• The Nice Guys. Fun as hell. Subversive take on the buddy cop film.
• 10 Cloverfield Lane. Hated the first movie, loved this one.
• Zoom.  A Canadian/Brazilian movie that was not released… it escaped and immediately fell into the cracks. Smart, funny and genuinely intelligent with a distinct style. More people need to see this movie.
  

Best TV Shows: Supergirl, Ash Vs Evil Dead, The One Good X-Files Episode.
Best Books (non-fiction): I Lost It at the Video Store: A Filmmakers’ Oral History of a Vanished Era
by Tom Roston, Nazis and Nudists by David Haldane
Best Music Video: John Carpenter “Night”
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: I have not read a comic I have liked since Transmetropolitan stopped. Only new thing I bought was Master Race and that was AWFUL.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Contamination (Arrow Video)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Just about everything.
Most underrated thing about 2016?  That Synchronicity movie. NOBODY saw this thing.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016?  I was looking forward to Suicide Squad so much… and let down SO hard.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  See above.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?  I WAS looking forward to Skull Island but then that second trailer really dashed my hopes for that one.

Chris Gore

Writer; Indie Film Advocate; Founder, Film Threat
@ThatChrisGore • @filmthreat • FilmThreat.com

Best Movies: Paterson, Jackie, Manchester by the Sea, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, The Arrival
Best TV Shows: Westworld, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead (Also could be listed as best and worst), Halt and Catch Fire, Ash vs Evil Dead, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (I love his brand of activist journalism.)
Best Books (non-fiction): Assholes: A Theory (Explains the rise of people like Trump and asshole
culture in general.)
Best Video Game: Battlefront 2 updates (Pretty much the only game I play.)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Martian (4K)
Most overrated thing about 2016? Celebrity deaths leading to posting things about “not liking 2016.” We live at a time where more “famous people” are alive than at any other time. Many of them are going to die every year. Can’t be helped, this is a numbers game. 2017 will be just as bad.
Most underrated thing about 2016?  Marvel Studios. Their track record is amazing.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Batman V Superman. Yeah. That didn’t turn out so great.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? Almost the entire slate of summer movies. It seems like they were worse than in recent years.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Star Wars Episode VIII

Clay N Ferno

FOG! Contributor
@ClayNFerno • leaguepodcast.com • do617.com

Best Movies: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond
Best TV Shows: Supergirl, The Crown, Mr. Selfridge, Divorce, Luke Cage
Best Video Game: Star Wars: Battlefront
Best Songs: Sad13 – Get a Yes, Whitney – No Woman
Best Albums: Whitney: Light Upon the Lake
Best Music Video: OK Go – The One Moment
Best Podcast: Unjustly Maligned
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Jupiter’s Legacy Vol. 2, DC Rebirth #1, Adventures of Supergirl, Sheriff of Babylon
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Captain America: Civil War, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Deadpool
Most overrated thing about 2016? Presidential Election Politics
Most underrated thing about 2016? Presidential Election Results
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016? Post-truth politics
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Star Wars: Episode VIII

Adam McGovern

Writer, Nightworld and Aquaria, Image Comics
@AdamMcGovern • hilobrow.com/author/amcgovern/

Best Movies:

• Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Netflix: Paul Ruebens spent years teasing both a “dark” Pee-wee film and a kids’ one; I always wondered what’s the difference and luckily he stopped waiting, as this troubled, charming epic of what makes a manchild put him exactly where he belongs!
• Deadpool, FOX: This was as good as everyone says; the most self-critical and least self-serious actioner ever made, even if it came at the start of the least soul-searching year America’s ever had.
• Suicide Squad, Warner Bros.: You heard me; the most shaded of super-antihero movies, and the first convincingly connected “DC Extended Universe” flick — inventive and absurdist, and not as irredeemable as many seemed to think.

Best TV Shows:

• Luke Cage, Netflix: Truth-telling psychodrama and compelling metropolitan gothic like never seen before; THE comic-cinema event of 2016 for me, and more confirmation that Marvel/Netflix has created the graphic-novel-for-television.
• Designated Survivor, ABC: Technically fantasy, but seemingly a nation’s wish-fulfillment — the entire government is destroyed and an actually-rational President is installed by Constitutional technicality. Sometimes like a Nashville for politics-junkies, but usually fascinating parallel history.
• The Detour, TBS: Family, redestroyed — ingenious social wrongness with devastating South Park-esque morals-by-default; this is the kind of show you get from a creative team who fled from Canada.

Best Web Series:  The New Adventures of Brobot Johnson by Darian Dauchan: A hip-hop heroic cycle (13 eps, a brilliant album and an emerging stage work) about the baby-steps of an A.I. in the big city that opens many new frontiers of world-building, and discussions on humanity as work-in-progress.
Best Podcast:  Uncanny County:  The heartland just got even weirder, and this hilarious old-timey transmission from a land of replacement robots, soul-stealing hell-kittens, and cthulhu clowns is a cozy fireside chatroom while it all ignites…
Best Short Fiction:

• “Are We Not Men?” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, The New Yorker, 11/7/16: The everyday of 100 years from now is my favorite form of sci-fi — and of course it takes a lot less than 100 years for the world to be recognizable yet irrevocably changed. This tale of suburbanites keeping up in the status-race for genetically-engineered novelties shows how elitism is a choice and human nature is the kind we can least conquer.
• “The Current Entertainments: Lemoin’s Assaut Sur L’Univers” by Glen David Gold, WIRED Fiction Issue, 12/13/16: In the future we’ll still have pretentious pundits and worse filmmakers, and Gold deftly takes us into the devised reality of a next-decade review-column, and the head of its unimpressed critic, to paint a perfect parody of (what else) the next, near-telepathic evolution of VR, and reassure that media will never get spectacular enough not to bore us.

Best Song:  Neural Karaoke Christmas Carol: Since the dawn of vocal filters through the heydays of disco and Devo we’ve been trying to sound like this; now we can stop. Now EVERYTHING can stop.
Best Album: ★, David Bowie: I didn’t guess what it was about, but having lost wife and mother a few months before, I knew how it felt; I could tell this restless, sublime album was pointing toward infinity, even if we’re not following him there just yet.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels:

• Kingsway West, Greg Pak & Mirko Colak (Dark Horse)
• Kim & Kim, Magdalene Visaggio & Eva Cabrera (Black Mask)
• Black Hammer, Jeff Lemire & Dean Ormston (Dark Horse)
• Animosity, Marguerite Bennett & Rafael De Latorre (AfterShock)
• Archangel, William Gibson/Michael St. John Smith & Butch Guice/Tom Palmer (IDW)
• Black Panther, Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze (Marvel)

Suited to a year we hoped was a dream, a lot of the best new comics were fantasias on what might have been or how much worse it could be. Kingsway West is a lyrical nightmare of a high-tech 1800s frontier; Archangel a true-to-imagination tale of a totalitarian POTUS and Veep manipulating the timeline; Animosity a post-society odyssey through a Romero-esque world of sentient (and now supreme) pets and farm animals; Black Hammer a mournful endless epilogue for superhero archetypes exiled from their own saga. The poetic Black Panther, on the other hand, explored what a true democracy’s painful birth might be like, and Kim & Kim followed two LGBTQ adventurers through a whirlwind of hyperspace and mega-sass, each book imagining what might still be.
Best Theatrical Production:

• The Adventures of Minami: The Robot From Japan Who Makes You Feel Safe When Loneliness Is Palpable: Part 1 by Leah Nanako Winkler
• City of Glass adapted by Edward Einhorn

Signals of solitude, from either end of the year: in December, Leah Nanako Winkler’s psycho-comedy/drama about a starter-A.I. that everyone projects their pain onto; and back in February, a morphing of Paul Auster’s novel of isolation and identity-loss into a one-man oration, with two silent doppelgangers; the shattered mirror has a thousand strangers’ faces.
Most overrated thing about 2016?  Hillary Clinton’s rapport with the working class and her other presumed constituencies. And it berns.
Most underrated thing about 2016? Han Solo miniseries, Marvel: Maybe not underrated, but certainly under-radar’d, was Marjorie Liu’s wistful galactic fairytale of self-imposed exile and quests worth taking, as a legendary starship-race leads both Han and matriarchal space-mariner Loo Re Anno to realize what home really looks like.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016?
  That single line in Netflix’s Luke Cage when someone offhandedly refers to Rosario’s character as “the Night Nurse” — most thrilling geek-minutiae moment since the half-second you can see the Original Human Torch in his tube during the camera-pan over the World’s Fair in the first Cap movie!
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?   The end of dystopia being confined to science-fiction.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?

• Quantum Teens Are Go! (Black Mask): Mags Visaggio is the maddest, most original voice to emerge in comics in 2016; I’ve seen her next book and it is the future (and also the past, and something sideways…you’ll see what I mean).
• U.S.Avengers and Royals (Marvel): Al Ewing is reigning as the most irreverent, inventive writer of eccentric blockbusters in mainstream comics, and his next franchise-hacks will make things even better!
• Wonder Woman film: Looks like they may get the feminist legacy and the vintage valor (and squalor) just right at last; she was the best several minutes of that other movie, so a whole two hours is worth anticipating…
• Kindred adaptation (Abrams ComicArts): Close retelling of Octavia Butler’s classic by vivid, visionary artist John Jennings (who’s already won an Eisner for his scholarship) with frequent writing partner Damian Duffy; reason enough for another year.
• SelfDropKick: Three more comics coming from evil genius Lukasz Kowalczuk’s workshop of dayglo quantum prophetic widescreen crazy!

Erin Maxwell

FOG! Columnist
@erinemaxwell

Best Movies: Jackie, Deadpool
Best TV Shows:  Westworld, Sense8, Luke Cage, The Get Down
Best Books (non-fiction): “Ghostland” by Colin Dickey
Best Video Game: Sarah Is Missing
Best Songs: Burn The Witch by Radiohead, Sorry by Beyonce
Best Albums: We got it from Here… Thank You 4 Your service by A Tribe Called Quest
Best Music Video: Lemonade by Beyonce
Best Podcast: Last Podcast on the Left…
Best Comic Books/Graphic Novels: Paper Girls
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Deadpool
Most underrated thing about 2016? There was nothing underrated about this year. 2016 had 0 chill
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016? That it is almost over.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  Can I say 2016, as a whole was a dumpster fire of a fire.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017? Possibly our new ape overlords after we destroy the Earth

Brian Lynch

Screenwriter, The Secret Life of Pets, Minions, upcoming The Secret Life of Pets 2
@BrianLynch

Best Movies:  Sing Street. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s all about the birth of creativity.  Plus there are half a dozen songs you can’t get out of your head.
Best TV Shows:  Last Man on Earth.  It’s The Walking Dead minus zombies but plus Will Forte and it’s fantastic.  RUNNER UP: Search Party on TBS.  Don’t read anything else about it, just go watch, trust me.
Best Video Game:  I don’t have time to play many video games but Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a great time.
Best Songs:  “Drive It Like You Stole It” by Sing Street, “Faith” by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande, “Shiny” by Jemaine Clement.
Best Albums:  Bowie’s is the best of the last couple of years.
Best Music Video: Don’t be silly.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels:  IDW’s TMNT, the best version of some of my favorite characters.   Giant Days by BOOM! is perfect.  And the Archie line is stellar, I can’t believe I’m saying that, and hey, they should really email me and have me write a book.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: The Secret Life of Pets because the movie is great and I’m on the making of, so, personally, wow, there I am.
Most overrated thing about 2016?  Not sure
Most underrated thing about 2016?  Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl and Last Man on Earth are all hilarious with perfect casts, and they don’t get enough love.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2016?  Personally, my movie coming out. Also Rogue One and Fantastic Feasts, and neither disappointed.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2016?  You want me to say the election, don’t you?  I ain’t kicking that hornet’s nest, no sir.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2017?  Spider-Man: Homecoming

Produced by Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin,
Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams, Theodore Melfi
Screenplay by Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi
Based on Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Directed by Theodore Melfi
Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer,
Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst,
Jim Parsons, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell

“The untold tale of the 3 black women who helped calculate NASA’s way into space”

When given an uplifting period tale it can be easy to slip into a saccharine-sweet retelling of known events. But a strong ensemble cast, upbeat score courtesy of Pharrell Williams, and excellent pacing make this a thoroughly enjoyable film even with it straightforward story.

Hidden Figures, adapted from the book of the same title, is based on the true stories of three black women out of the many who were employed as human computers at NASA to provide the calculations for the space program in the 1960s. Each woman’s story details the struggle of overcoming Civil Rights era societal roles in order to utilize their unique gifts in a rare industry where talent can provide an opportunity to escape station.

In the very first scenes the mathematical brilliance of Katherine Johnson is detailed. A childhood version of herself solves a quadratic equation on the blackboard in front of her classmates, all several years her senior. Clearly, this is a mind to be reckoned with. We then fast forward to adult Katherine (Taraji P. Henson), and her friends and Langley coworkers, Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), all gifted with numbers but each with different ideas about where it will take them.

Following the journey of the women, director and co-screenwriter Theodore Melfi gives us three distinctly different viewpoints regarding dealing with the racial politics of the 1960’s at NASA. The most ambitious in this line comes from singer turned actress Janelle Monae, who holds her own against her seasoned co-stars with grace. Mary Jackson’s ambition to be an engineer at NASA (a position that would require finding a way to take advanced classes at a whites-only night school) has Monae’s screen time crackling with the lightning of barely withheld anger and drive. Her stunning looks and precision in delivering pointed one-liners adds a sharpness to scenes that would otherwise lag.

Dorothy Vaughn has the goal of being promoted to manager, a position she is already doing for the black computer pool without title or recognition. Spencer shows her strength in this type of character with her expert code switching. The authoritative organizer to her black female coworkers quickly becomes overly polite and deferential in the presence of the manager of the white computers, a cool and dismissive Kirsten Dunst. Her thinly veiled exasperation at Vaughn’s inability to be happy with her station provides an illustration of how white attitudes played into the lives of black coworkers without being cartoonishly vilified. Although this role may immediately call to mind Spencer’s excellent showing in The Help, it is impossible to not enjoy her growth over the course of the movie even with its familiarity.

The film, however, centers around the transformative performance of Henson. Her shy but sturdy Katherine would be unrecognizable to those who only know her as the brash Cookie on Empire. Placed as the first computer of color with a team of exclusively white male engineers, her reliance on mathematical acumen for confidence and solace is palpable. Clever costuming choices, such as her jewel-toned dresses that stand out considerably in a sea of white shirts, black ties, and gray slacks, heighten her otherness but in a way that makes her standout like a flower amongst snow. It’s one of the many technical aspects that add to the experience.

The film also gives us a glimpse into the many roles she juggles, from a loving mother tucking her daughters into bed after a long day at work, to pious community member attending church on Sundays where she is courted by a dashing Mahershala Ali. While trying to charm her at the church picnic, he makes the mistake of downplaying her abilities. Though she must remain demure at NASA as a second-class citizen, Katherine steps up to the plate (or in this case, suitor) to upbraid him in a restrained but direct response that demonstrates Henson’s ability to dismantle a person without ever raising her voice.

The growth of the character is similar in composition; never a roar, but always a quiet power and pure intention that provides strength under the surface. Save for one terrific outburst in the second half of the movie, Katharine always displays certainty and strength rather than pride and disdain. The joy of the performance is watching the dance between ordinary and extraordinary, and Henson balances it perfectly.

Anyone walking to the theater knows that John Glenn successfully made it into space so there is little suspense in the movie, but the struggle of the women to create paths for themselves where there were none is enough to be engaged even when you know the ending. There is no denying that this is a “happy history” feel-good movie for the holiday season. But there’s also no reason that designation keeps it from being an excellent film.

This February, the world’s deadliest assassin is back on the board and back in business. Today, Marvel is pleased to present a new look inside BULLSEYE #1 – the new 5-issue limited series from creators Ed Brisson (Iron Fist) and Guillermo Sanna (Deadpool)! He’s been out of commission for a while, but it’s time to show the world that they should still fear Bullseye. He’s beaten Daredevil, Elektra, the Punisher, and more. But that was just business. This? This is for pleasure. So what does the world’s greatest assassin do for fun? From the mean streets of New York City to the jungles of South America – Bullseye is going to do what he does best. Hit the targets and make sure they don’t get back up.

Plus – in addition to a full length adventure, legendary writer & Bullseye co-creator Marv Wolfman returns for a can’t-miss Bullseye back-up alongside artist Alec Morgan! What does Bullseye want with the Mafia’s most sensitive information? What lengths will he go to in order to get it?

Shoot first. Ask questions later. Don’t miss the highly anticipated debut of BULLSEYE #1 when it comes to comic shops and digital devices on February 1^st!

BULLSEYE #1 (of 5) (DEC160876)
Written by ED BRISSON & MARV WOLFMAN
Art by GUILLERMO SANNA & ALEC MORGAN
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
Variant Covers by BILL SIENKIEWICZ (DEC160878), CHRIS STEVENS (DEC160880)
And SKOTTIE YOUNG (DEC160881)
Connecting Variant by MARCO CHECCHETTO (DEC160879)
Action Figure Variant by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER (DEC160882)
Hip-Hop Variant by TIM BRADSTREET (DEC160877)
FOC – 1/09/17, On-Sale – 02/01/17

To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com
or call 1-888-comicbook. 

Cult of Chucky, an all-new spellbinding chapter of the Child’s Play thriller franchise, begins principal photography in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on January 9, 2017. The seventh film in the blockbuster series will be released in a bone-chilling Unrated Version on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital HD in fall 2017 — just in time for Halloween. Packed with the franchise’s signature blend of horror and demented humor, Cult of Chucky is the latest production from Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production entity of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) is erroneously convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new therapeutic “tool” to facilitate his patients’ group sessions — an all-too-familiar “Good Guy” doll with an innocently smiling face — a string of grisly deaths begins to plague the asylum, and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn’t crazy after all. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), Chucky’s now-grown-up nemesis from the original Child’s Play, races to Nica’s aid. But to save her he’ll have to get past Tiffany (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Tilly), Chucky’s long-ago bride, who will do anything, no matter how deadly or depraved, to help her beloved devil doll.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 30 years since Chucky first terrified moviegoers in Child’s Play,” said Glenn Ross, General Manager and Executive Vice President, Universal 1440 Entertainment. “Since then the films have generated millions in worldwide box-office revenue. Now Chucky’s back with more scores to settle in his trademark twisted style, and you can bet he won’t stop until he gets his revenge.”

Fiona Dourif (Curse of Chucky) returns as Nica, the wheelchair-bound heroine framed by Chucky for the bloody murders of her entire family. She’s joined by franchise veterans Alex Vincent (Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2) and Jennifer Tilly (Monsters, Inc., Bride of Chucky), with Brad Dourif (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) once again providing the eerie, unnerving voice of the demon doll possessed by the spirit of a maniacal serial killer.

Don Mancini, writer of the Child’s Play franchise, is the executive producer of the new film, which he also directs from his original script. Longtime franchise producer David Kirschner (The Pagemaster, Frailty) is joined this time by Ogden Gavanski (Warm Bodies, Immortals). The production team includes special-effects guru and associate producer Tony Gardner (Zombieland, Curse of Chucky), director of photography Michael Marshall (“Killjoys”), production designer Craig Sandells (Mother’s Day) and costume designer Patricia J. Henderson (ATM).

#chucky
#cultofchucky

From Marvel Studios comes Doctor Strange, the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident renders his hands useless. When traditional medicine fails him, he travels to the remote Kamar-Taj in search of a cure, but instead discovers the mystical arts and becomes a powerful sorcerer battling dark forces bent on destroying our reality.

Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange,” the story of Dr. Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, has mesmerized both audiences and critics, pulling in more than $658.3 million at the worldwide box office to date and earning a 90% critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes. The biggest single-character introduction in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it also carries on Marvel Studios’ winning streak as the 14th consecutive MCU film to debut at #1 at the domestic box office.

On Feb. 14, “Doctor Strange” fans can bring home the critically acclaimed blockbuster early on Digital HD/3D and Disney Movies Anywhere, or on Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray, Digital SD, DVD and On-Demand on Feb. 28. The Blu-ray and Digital releases come packaged with over 80 minutes of fascinating, never-before-seen bonus materials, including five behind-the-scenes featurettes, five deleted scenes, hilarious outtakes, part two of the comical mockumentary “Team Thor,” audio commentary, and an exclusive look at the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film boasts an award-winning cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game,” “Black Mass”) as Dr. Stephen Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave,” “Triple 9”) as Mordo, Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight,” “Southpaw”) as Dr. Christine Palmer, Benedict Wong (“The Martian,” “Prometheus”) as Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg (“A Serious Man,” “Steve Jobs”) as Dr. Nicodemus West, Benjamin Bratt (“Traffic,” “Piñero”) as Jonathan Pangborn, and Scott Adkins (“El Gringo,” “The Expendables 2”) as Lucian/Strong Zealot, with Mads Mikkelsen (“The Hunt,” “Casino Royale”) as Kaecilius and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (2007 Best Supporting Actress, “Michael Clayton”; “Julia”) as The Ancient One.

Bonus Features (Bonus features may vary by retailer. The DVD does not include any bonus materials.):

DIGITAL HD & BLU-RAY:

• Featurettes
  • A Strange Transformation – Open your eye to a new dimension of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and see how the filmmakers brought one of comic books’ greatest characters to life.
• Strange Company – Find out what it’s like for the cast to work on a Marvel film, and how Director Scott Derrickson engineered one of the most ambitious, imaginative films ever.
• The Fabric of Reality – Take a closer look at the movie’s extraordinary sets, meticulously crafted costumes and amazingly detailed production elements.
• Across Time and Space – Explore the countless hours of dance and fight choreography the actors endured in preparation for their physically demanding roles.
• The Score-cerer Supreme – Join Composer Michael Giacchino and a full orchestra during live recording sessions, and experience the movie’s mind-bending music.
• Marvel Studios Phase 3 Exclusive Look – Get an early peek at Marvel’s spectacular upcoming films, including Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War.
• Team Thor: Part 2 – See more of the hilarious partnership between Thor and his roommate Darryl in this satirical short.
• Deleted Scenes
  • Strange Meets Daniel Drumm
• Kaecilius Searches for Answers
• The Kamar-Taj Courtyard
• Making Contact
• Lost in Kathmandu
• Gag Reel
• Audio Commentary by Director Scott Derrickson

DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE:

• Through the Keyhole: The Science of the MCU – Discover how Marvel grounds all its films in real science, and explore the connection between science, magic and imagination.

Scott Derrickson (“Deliver Us from Evil,” “Sinister”) is directing with Kevin Feige, p.g.a., producing. Louis D’Esposito, Stephen Broussard, Victoria Alonso, Charles Newirth and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Jon Spaihts (“The Darkest Hour,” “Prometheus”) and Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill (“Sinister,” “Sinister 2”).

The talented team of filmmakers assembled for “Doctor Strange” includes Ben Davis (Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), cinematographer; Charles Wood (Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), production designer; Alexandra Byrne (Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), costume designer; Wyatt Smith (“Into the Woods,” “Ricki and the Flash”) and Sabrina Plisco (“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” “Charlotte’s Web”), editors; Stephane Ceretti (Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Thor: The Dark World”), visual effects supervisor; and Paul Corbould (Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), special effects supervisor.

Marvel.com/DoctorStrange