As a big fan of Brian Cronin‘s work over at Comic Book Resources, we’re happy to present this exclusive excerpt from his chapter on Cable (introduced to cinematic audiences shortly in Deadpool 2 portrayed by Josh Brolin) from his new book, 100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.

Cable

Many X-Men characters have complicated backgrounds within the comics and a number of X-Men characters have complicated backgrounds behind the scenes. However, no character can boast the levels of complication in both fields as Cable, the time-traveling mutant warrior with more parents (in the comics and outside the comics) than just about any character in history.

The behind-the-scenes origins for the character began when Rob Liefeld joined writer Louise Simonson as the creative team on New Mutants. The title had recently seen the group of young mutants break free from their ostensible mentor, Magneto, while also merging with another team of young mutants from the pages of X-Factor, the X-Terminators. So the cast of the group had grown, but without a leader or a real base of operations (the X-Mansion having been destroyed in one of its routine destructions), the team was in a state of disarray. So New Mutants editor Bob Harras decided that the team needed a new leader. He wanted the new leader to have more of a military attitude than their previous leaders, to give the book a new approach.

Before joining New Mutants, Rob Liefeld had designed a number of possible new characters for the series. One of the characters that he had designed was a cyborg character that Liefeld recalled was essentially a mix between Bruce Willis from Die Hard and Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator. He had a number of possible names written down for the character. When he pulled the design out for New Mutants, he chose the name “Cable.”

However, since both Liefeld and Simonson were told of the new direction by Harras, then Simonson naturally was also developing a militaristic leader for the team. Therefore, there is some dispute between the two over who gets credit for creating Cable. Liefeld clearly designed the character on his own, but there is some debate over how much of a role Simonson had in the early personality of the character. She clearly wrote his first appearance in New Mutants #87, so either way; she officially gets credit as cocreating the character. Harras’ role, though, is reminiscent of the impactful role that Roy Thomas had in the creation of Wolverine, though both editors always seem to be left out of creator credits for their respective characters.

LIefeld’s original Cable designs/ Image via Marvel

Simply put, the only thing that anyone knew about Cable when he showed up was that he was a time traveler, he was a cyborg of some sort, and he was a badass. Once he was introduced, Simonson and Liefeld kept him a mystery for a few issues (although they revealed that he had history with Wolverine, but then again, everyone seems to have history with Wolverine). Once Liefeld took over full control of the plotting of the series, he had a few different ideas for the character. One of them was that he would be a grown version of Cannonball, the leader of the New Mutants. Another one was set up by the ending of the final issue of New Mutants (by Liefeld and Nicieza). In that issue, the villainous Stryfe, who showed up with the Mutant Liberation Front at the same time that Cable debuted, took off his helmet and appeared to be…Cable! Liefeld’s idea was that Stryfe would be an older version of Cable who turned evil at some point in time. So Cable’s greatest foe would be himself.

However, Liefeld soon left Marvel to cofound Image Comics, and thus he was no longer in control of Cable’s background. Marvel decided to go in a different direction. Cyclops previously had sent his infant son, Christopher Nathan Summers, into the future to save his life after he had been infected with a technorganic virus by Apocalypse. During “X-Cutioner’s Song,” it was revealed that either Stryfe or Cable was the grown version of that infant and the other one was a clone. At first, it seemed like Cable was going to be the clone, but then it turned out that Cable was the original (he was a cyborg as a result of the techno-organic virus ravaging his body before being put under control) and Stryfe was a clone without the virus who was then captured by Apocalypse with the intent of Apocalypse using Stryfe as a host body.

So Cable was now older than his own father, Cyclops. The issue was even weirder when you consider that Cable’s birth mother was Madelyne Pryor, a clone herself of Jean Grey, who then died. When Cyclops married Jean Grey, Cable got to see who, in effect, should have been his parents. Cable has been a valuable member of the X-Universe ever since, leading many versions of X-Force and also being part of a number of X-Men teams.

100 Things X-Men Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Brian Cronin
is available now from Triumph Books.  Reprinted with permission.
Follow Brian on Twitter at @Brian_Cronin

Produced By Mariah Klapatch
Written By Tess Gerritsen
Directed By Josh Gerritsen
Starring Laila Robins, Adam Wade McLaughlin,
Teri Reeves, Matthew Wilkas

A small fishing community, located on a secluded island forty miles from the mainland, is dealing with the financial burden caused by the mysterious disappearance of the local fish and lobsters.

Theories are tossed around at the local diner, but the visiting biologist – continuing his late wife’s findings – believes the culprit is an undocumented ocean predator that is devouring the fish at an alarming rate.

His wife’s proposal was laughed at by the scientific community, and he isn’t faring much better with the locals.  However, after the ferry hasn’t shown up for three days and communication with it has been lost, people start to begrudgingly admit he may be right.

Entertaining creature feature earns points for taking its time to set up its situation and characters. Dialogue and motivations ring true, and the pacing is spot-on.

Writer Tess Gerritsen is known for writing the Rizzoli & Isles series of novels (later turned into the hit TV show) and she does a creditable job of giving us potentially cardboard caricatures and giving them nuance and three dimensions. The biologist, the local doctor, the pretty waitress, etc. could have all been dull stick figures as in hundreds of other creature flicks. But even the comically cantankerous older couple – deadly in many others’ hands – come across as real people by film’s end.

It also helps that the acting is solid across the board, which is very unusual in a micro-budget horror flick. Robins (Steve Martin’s wife in Planes, Trains and Automobiles) is a standout as the doctor, but everyone does a fine job here.

It also helps greatly that the film was shot on location in the picturesque town of Camden, Maine, and the seaside atmosphere is utilized well by first time director Josh Gerritsen (Tess’ son).

The narrative takes a page or two from Aliens (hardly anything new there) but is smart and satisfying in its own right, with survivors acting intelligently and resourcefully, and revelations about the creatures’ strengths and vulnerabilities meted out in believable fashion.

As mentioned above, Island Zero is a micro-budget affair, and frankly, it shows. The digital photography is functional at best (again, thank God for that pretty New England town!) and the effects are…well, not too bad for the budget but certainly uneven. However, the filmmakers were very wise in creating monsters with characteristics that cleverly allowed them to cut corners on creature design and effects.

Island Zero doesn’t rewrite the book when it comes to monster flicks, but it’s a fun ride, with rounded characters to root for and a well-structured script that leads to a gratifyingly credible denouement.

Produced by Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Reitman,
Helen Estabrook, Diablo Cody, Mason Novick,
Charlize Theron, A.J. Dix, Beth Kono
Written by Diablo Cody
Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis,
Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston

Written by Jody Leheup
Art by Nathan Fox
Published by Image Comics
Released 6/13/18 / $3.99

I have something to confess here: I’m an unabashed Nathan Fox fan.

There’s something about his art that is just awesome. I’ll pick up anything he draws. He reminds me of Riley Rossmo with how much energy his art gives off. He is perfectly suited for the concept of this book.

In this book, people have colonized Mars. It’s the year 2770 and life is futuristic!

One day, there is a big attack on Earth and it causes much havoc.

But who instigated this attack?

Well, they think they’ve figured it out.

It’s Nathan Bright, an amiable guy who is a weatherman! He is also suffering from amnesia.

Can Nathan be the one who really caused this horrible violence?

LeHeup keeps things interesting.

The book opens with a nice setup. The first pages seem to be the aforementioned attack from the stars that is about to happen.

Then, we meet Nathan Bright.

He’s full of life. He wakes up late and he and his dog just about make it to the station to do the weather with 30 seconds to spare.

Bright is a carefree sort and LeHeup just infused him with a likable and winning personality. It isn’t long before people start coming after him and he has to defend himself and while trying to figure out the truth!

Some of you might think this sounds like the film Total Recall. It’s reminiscent, but it’s something new and creative. The writing is awesome and the dialogue moves things along wonderfully.

And the art of course is wonderful. Fox is a veteran and his art is perfect for this. I just wish I had the rest of it right away (five issues are already reportedly done). If the rest of the series is this good, however, I won’t mind waiting.

RATING: A-

Ten years after the events of the first film, the Kaiju return in Pacific Rim Uprising with a new deadly threat that reignites the conflict between these otherworldly monsters of mass destruction and Jaegers, the human-piloted super-machines that were built to vanquish them. Pacific Rim Uprising arrives on Digital and the all-new digital movie app MOVIES ANYWHERE on June 5, 2018, as well as on 4K Ultra HD, 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand on June 19, 2018 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Building on the striking visual world created in the first film, Pacific Rim Uprising features a next-generation battleground complete with upgraded Jaegers and new Kaiju that offers a captivating a state-of-the-art spectacle perfect for your next night in. Experience one-of-a-kind special effects and more than forty minutes of bonus content when you own the next installment on 4K Ultra HD, 3D Blu-ray , Blu-ray and DVD.

In Pacific Rim Uprising directed by Steven S. DeKnight, John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) stars as the rebellious Jake Pentecost, a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity’s victory against the monstrous Kaiju. Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through our cities and bring the world to its knees, he is given one last chance to live up to his father’s legacy. Jake is joined by gifted rival pilot Lambert (The Fate of the Furious’ Scott Eastwood), 15-year-old Jaeger hacker Amara (newcomer Cailee Spaeny), returning veterans Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim), Burn Gorman (The Dark Knight Rises) and a talented crew of fiercely young cadets. The international cast also includes Tian Jing (Kong: Skull Island) and Adria Arjona (“Emerald City”). Rising up to become the most powerful defense force to ever walk the earth, they set course for a spectacular all-new adventure on a towering scale.

BONUS FEATURES ON 4K ULTRA HD, 3D BLU-RAY, BLU-RAY, DVD & DIGITAL:

• Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Steven S. DeKnight
• Hall of Heroes – John Boyega takes us through the awesome weaponry and cutting-edge enhancements of the latest generation of Jaegers featured in the film.
• Bridge to Uprising – The cast and crew discuss how the world of Pacific Rim has changed in the ten years since the events of the original film.
• The Underworld of Uprising – Humanity won the Kaiju War, but every war has casualties. John Boyega and Steven S. DeKnight give a tour of the coastal “Relief Zones.”
• Becoming Cadets – Step into the Shatterdome, and learn the grueling physical and mental preparation required of the young actors who portrayed the PPDC cadets.
• Unexpected Villain – Learn the secret reason that turned one of the most beloved heroes of the original film into a villain obsessed with humanity’s destruction.
• Next Level Jaegers – The cast and crew discuss the amazing technological advances of the Jaeger program in the years since the events of the original film.
• I Am Scrapper – Actress Cailee Spaeny shares the backstory of Scrapper, Amara’s incredible self-built Jaeger and its many unique abilities.
• Going Mega – Filmmakers take us through the technical and creative challenges of creating the most deadly threat the Pan Pacific Defense Corp has ever faced: the Mega Kaiju!
• Secrets of Shao – Meet the woman behind Shao Industries. Actress Tian Jing shares her insights on the enigmatic tech tycoon Liwen Shao.
• Mako Returns – Actress Rinko Kikuchi and director Steven S. DeKnight explain the significance of Mako Mori’s return and her importance to the events of Pacific Rim Uprising.
• Feature Commentary with Director Steven S. DeKnight

The film will be available on 4K Ultra HD in a combo pack which includes 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and Digital. The 4K Ultra HD disc will include the same bonus features as the Blu-ray version, all in stunning 4K resolution.

• 4K Ultra HD is the ultimate movie watching experience. 4K Ultra HD features the combination of 4K resolution for four times sharper picture than HD, the color brilliance of High Dynamic Range (HDR) with immersive audio delivering a multidimensional sound experience.
• Blu-ray unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.
• Digital lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.
• MOVIES ANYWHERE is the digital app that simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Consumers can also redeem digital copy codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and stream or download them through Movies Anywhere. MOVIES ANYWHERE is only available in the United States. For more information, visit https://moviesanywhere.com.

For more details visit Facebook.com/PacificRimMovie

Produced by Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub,
Jonathan Montepere, Cecilia Frugiuele
Screenplay by Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele
Based on the book by Emily M. Danforth
Directed by Desiree Akhavan
Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane,
John Gallagher, Jr., Forrest Goodluck,
Jennifer Ehle, Quinn Shephard

Life is already complicated for a teenager; between dealing with family, school, insecurities and self discovery, life is a mixed bag of confusion.

However, for Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) there’s one thing she knows for sure: she is gay.

Unfortunately, this comes to the disgust of her family, friends and prom date who accidentally finds her in the backseat of his car with Coley (Quinn Shephard), the prom queen.

Taking place in 1993 and living with her religious aunt and uncle after the death of her parents, Post is quickly shipped off to a gay conversation camp (God’s Promise) where she soon learn it’s the blind leading the well-sighted.

Before the success of marriage equality, gay characters in the media, the internet and transgender bathrooms, Cameron Post is alone in a society that keeps telling she needs be to “fixed” to lead a happy and normal life. However, this “happy and norm” may come at a cost she’s not willing to pay.

Based on the Emily M. Danforth’s novel (of the same name), Désirée Akhavan and her Behavior writing partner Cecilia Frugiuele, creates a surprisingly delightful film that juggles heartbreaking relationships with witty child-like moments.

A watered down One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, God’s Promise is located in upstate New York where fake smiles (including the counselors) hide miserableness and racing hormones are a sinful sign. Despite being taught to hate herself, Moretz plays Cameron with an air of skepticism but openness that allows herself to emotionally connect with fellow campers who just want acceptance from their peers.

Joining Moretz is Helen Showalter (Melanie Ehrlich) who is told to believe her sinful sexuality is related to the desire to be a perfect singer. Erin (Emily Skeggs) who plays Post’s roommate believes her same-sex attraction is a sinful byproduct of bonding time with her dad. Unlike Post, Erin is desperate to get everyone to take the camp seriously to gain acceptance from the outside world.

Despite the light tone of the movie, it never shies away from the mental and emotional damage of gay conversion therapy. Jennifer Ehle as Dr. Lydia Marsh is sinister but also misguided as she forces psychological tactics onto the campers in hopes of saving them from a life of cruelty. Using the kids words against them, she is able to tap into their fears to manipulate them.

By her side is Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.) an already fragile man who describes himself as “lost” until his sister saved him. Trading gay bars with guitars and God there’s an unspoken heartache as he too struggles to accept his unfulfilled life. The most memorable story belongs to Mark (Owen Campbell) who mentally collapses under the weight of trying to please his father despite being deemed a success story.

It’s easy to dismiss The Miseducation of Cameron Post as a “gay movie” for the LGBTQ+ at first glance. However, this is a movie for anyone who has never felt good enough, struggled with insecurities, or forced themselves to hide any part of their personality.

Filled with passion and heart The Miseducation of Cameron post draws it strength from every character, dialogue and moments of silence to remind its audience that sometime your true self is your best self.

So … uh … Infinity War.

Pfew. Boy. Whoa.

It’s a lot. Like, a whole lot.

First things first: Here we are, 10 years into Marvel Studios, a Hollywood experiment that likely never should have worked, but they accomplished it.

They figured out how to make superhero movies just like they produce comic books. We’ll have individual franchises for solo adventures, and a team-up franchise, all within a far-flung, connected universe by which you could tell one giant story.

And, when the weight of holding up all those storylines grows too heavy, when the actors tire or age out of their roles, bring in a continuity-altering event and SNAP, the cycle can begin again.

In that regard alone, Avengers: Infinity War is a success.

But you know the movie is a success, and good. You probably saw it already, right? Of course right!

It’s kinda wild that experience of watching the movie in the theater didn’t exactly knock my socks off, but the movie’s still digging tunnels into my mind a week later. It was a different kind of spectacle, and in retrospect Thanos really got to me.

Back in Wakandaaaaaa!

Did you heart leap when the movie cuts to Wakanda for the first time? When those horns and the talking drum hit those triples in Black Panther’s theme, saying “T’Challa, T’Challa, T’Challa” again and again?

Did it leap even higher hearing M’Baku lead the gorilla chant?

Did it soar when T’Challa rouses the Wakandan tribes in Xhosa – “Yibambe!”

And did it explode when he finally let loose with “Wakanda forever!”

I know mine did.

A friend of mine told me that in a screening she attended, the crowd gasped and applauded upon seeing Wakanda again.

The pacing is almost too brisk

Yo, this movie is two and a half hours long. It doesn’t really feel like it, because it keeps moving at quite the clip.

The dialog between the heroes is often sharp and snappy, which allows for the dramatic pieces to hit more strongly. The briskness also happens in part because of having multiple storylines with characters split among many locations. We’re in deep space, then New York, then somewhere else in deep space, then Wakanda, then Scotland, then Knowhere, then Titan, and so on. We’re not in one place for too long.

However, there could have been more time. So much happens in the film as Thanos completes his quest, and often his acquisition of each Infinity Stone involves a hero’s reversal from a previously decided plan. This grew repetitive, and sometimes those character reversals came so quickly that I heard the gears of the plot working a little louder than I would have liked.

What if they went full The Leftovers at the end?

In the film’s grandest moment, when half the universe’s population is raptured out of existence, a little extra time could have made it land even harder. It’s already eerie as all get out, as people just turn to ashes and blow away. The quietude of the whole affair adds to it all.

The focus on our heroes makes sense in keeping the film as tight as possible, no doubt. And the film uses specific heroes to grab us in the moment, even if we know how comic book stories play out and that most likely many of these folks will return.

Seeing T’Challa go hurts, though. We just got his amazing movie, which has gone on to mean so much as an item of black representation and Afrocentric affirmation. (I’m going to a Black Panther-themed burlesque tribute show in Philadelphia, so yeah, it matters.)

Seeing Groot fade away before Rocket’s eyes hurts, even more so after James Gunn confirmed that Groot’s final word was a confused, “Dad?” Groot was the only reason Rocket has a heart, and now he’s gone.

And then the gut punch, as Spider-Man crumbles to dust in Iron Man’s arms, crying like the kid gone too soon in a war film. “I’m sorry, Tony. I’m sorry.” Sigh. Pfew. OK.

However, in the moment when all this is happening, does it occur to you that this is happening all over the universe? I hadn’t really thought of it until the post-credits scene, aka not really in the movie, when we see Nick Fury in New York. Cars crash, absent drivers. A helicopter careens into a high-rise.

Why wait until out of the movie proper for that? Imagine if the film had a little more time to widen the scope of Thanos achieving his mission. A surgeon disappears mid-surgery. A little girl’s jumping rope, and then the rope hits the ground. Show us what’s left of Xandar, with the survivors now losing more people.

Imagine Hawkeye in his retirement farmhouse with his wife and kids, and the kids disappear. Did Happy get raptured, or Pepper? Is Aunt May gone, too? Or Baron Zemo starts walking through his prison cell door as he dematerializes?

So yeah, I wanted this to go full Leftovers. (Shit, series star Carrie Coon – forever Officer Gloria Burgle from Fargo season two – was Proxima Midnight in this movie …!)

Are Falcon and War Machine ever gonna leave Wakanda?

I mean, why would they leave?

I think you could make an entire movie about the Avengers’ two black members visiting Wakanda for the first time. I imagine it must be like Richard Pryor’s stand-up routine about traveling to Africa, times a thousand. Would they weep upon the mere sight of the place? I know I would.

Hell, when Okoye said “We are home” when they crossed the holographic barrier in Black Panther, I thought, “Yes, we are!” Like the place is real. It felt that good.

I don’t even care if half the movie is an extended version of the Saturday Night Live “Black Jeopardy” sketch in which T’Challa finds out just how different his black experience is from his skinfolk in America.

Marvel low-key market tested an A-Force movie

Remember when Scarlet Witch was fighting Thanos minion Proxima Midnight, and Black Widow and Okoye came to her aid?

It was awesome, until you start thinking about how it took TEN YEARS of Marvel Studios movies to get all the superwomen together.

Black Panther is the only one of these movies with more than one important female character. Plus most of these stories deal with father issues, and the mothers are dead and/or lack deep impact.

But hey, Marvel Comics released a book titled A-Force, in which G. Willow Wilson teamed up all the female Avengers into one ass-kicking superteam. It was pretty damn good, too.

via @MrCraigKyle

Of course this could be adapted into a movie. Tessa Thompson, whose Valkyrie was a breakout character in Thor: Ragnarok, has publicly agitated for an all-woman superteam movie.

Don’t you want to see Valkyrie meet Shuri, or Pepper step into her own armor? How about Black Widow and Ayo resume that rivalry from Civil War? I want to see Okoye strategize with Captain Marvel. Can they travel in time and grab Peggy Carter, too?

What now?

Speaking of Captain Marvel, we’ll see her next year.

Infinity War ends with all our remaining heroes broken, defeated and lost. Captain America lies crumpled in a heap after he sees Bucky disappear before him, again. “Oh god,” he says. Thanos gets the hero’s sendoff, sitting outside his cabin on a mountain, serene in what he has made.

Grim music plays over the credits, a simple white text over a black field. At the screening I attended, the crowd was mostly silent. My wife said, “Really?”

But that post-credits scene? We finally get one of major consequence and impact on the story we just saw, as Nick Fury’s pager (RIP, Nick and Maria Hill!) reveals the insignia and colors of Captain Marvel. After all that death and despair, Infinity War tosses us a bit of hope.

It’ll be quite the thing if Marvel, who totally dropped the ball on bringing us a solo superheroine film, winds up positioning Carol Danvers as the most powerful hero the Marvel cinematic universe has ever seen.

Who better, then, to join the fray and save the universe in Avengers 4?

Knowing Marvel, because men, they’ll shoehorn in some crap like, “Wasn’t she worth the wait?”

And I’ll say, “No. But I’m glad you’re finally here.”

Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #1
Written By Leah Moore and John Reppion
Illustrated by Julius Ohta
Cover by John Cassaday
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
Released 5/2/18 / $3.99

This book suckered me in right away.

You see, if you put a John Cassaday cover onto a book, I just want to open it up. You know, after I glare at it for a few minutes. The story inside isn’t half bad either, though I always wish Cassaday drew the interiors as well.

Sherlock Holmes stories are pretty straightforward. There is a mystery, and then a few twists and then, finally, Holmes shows us why he is smarter than everyone. He solves the case and we get ready for another adventure. This story starts off and doesn’t seem to break that mold.

The mystery here is about a reliable family man who one day just disappears. Nobody knows what happened to him. And then Holmes and Watson are brought in to solve the case!

Moore and Reppion don’t do much outside of the regular formula for the set up. We even get a “game’s afoot” line at the end. There’s also just a lot of talking heads in this issue. A lot! I got bored after awhile as it felt just like exposition and a lot of it was needless.

The art is rather lackluster too. It’s cartoony and not in a good way. Holmes and Watson visually look bland. As a matter of fact, so does most of the people in this book. If Ohta excelled at facial expressions, it might have worked but sadly, he does not.

Sherlock Holmes is a kind of comfort food for many people. If you want that comfort, then this is perfect. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

RATING: C+

This Death Slot will be a little different than the others. This time lets look at a TV show that was so influential that it burned out very quickly and yet most people reading this will not remember at all.

Morton Downey Jr. is a name that gets bandied about now and then when people want to locate out a low point for television, when they need something (someone) to single out as the reason television rots the brain and corrupts the soul. This is not an untrue equivocation but it is also one marred by decades of hindsight and moral superiority.

Morton Downey Jr. (the man) was a singer in the 1950’s with hits such as “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and he was following in the footsteps of his father (Morton Downey).

By the mid 1980’s Downey had moved from singing and being a virulent anti-abortion activist into the world of television and this is where his star would rise and flame out just as fast.

Beginning on WWOR in New Jersey The Morton Downey Jr. Show made waves immediately. Soon the show would be syndicated nationwide (usually after midnight). This was a whole new kind of television. Years before Jerry Springer would bring the mainstream the concept of “Trash Television” Mort pioneered the ideal. The Morton Downey Jr. Show was like nothing that had ever been on TV before. It was loud, crass, boisterous, angry, irreverent, mean and the only other word that fits… trashy. Mort’s fans would have it no other way.

The Morton Downey Jr. Show was not a great show in the traditional sense… it was really about a self proclaimed loudmouth right wing kook who espoused very radical views in a way that was not only entertaining but borderline visceral. This may seem tame today but in 1988 this was not only new… it was alluring. Nothing like this had happened before.

Mort would have a few guests from the opposite end of an argument on his very 80’s stage which he would berate and blow smoke in the faces of (he smoked on the show constantly). There were podiums set up facing the stage (the Loudmouths) which in the studio audience could come up to and yell at the guests. Sometimes Morton would openly threaten guests or even people not on the show (he would speak into the camera to senators and whatnot). Violence was a regular occurrence on the The Morton Downey Jr. Show. Al Sharpton was famously punched out by Roy Innis on Mort’s show.

Television was never the same after The Morton Downey Jr. Show. Tony Timpone from Fangoria, Jay Jay French from Twisted Sister, heavy metal maven The Great Kat, Lloyd Kaufman from Troma and many other famous persons would appear on The Morton Downey Jr. stage and make fools of themselves (this was the format).

The Morton Downey Jr. Show was not just a simple minded circus though. Downey might have been quite right wing in his persona but he also fought against sexism (kind of), hated racists, bolstered free speech and even fought for gay rights (while also being arrested on assault charges for attacking a gay guest on a never aired episode). Mort was kind of all over the place. One episode would be about hookers who are also alien abductees and then an episode on the homeless problem in New York. Attempting to start a campaign to have child molesters hung by their testicles one night and then his famous week of shows in Harlem where he showcased racial issues and problems of racism with the NYPD. His favorite phrases were “Zip It” and “Pablum Puking Liberal”. The The Morton Downey Jr. Show was also a hot button in the (then) expanding Tawana Brawley debacle that was gripping the nation. The Morton Downey Jr. Show could not be ignored.

Morton would go on to appear on many other talk shows, news shows, Wrestlemania V and make appearances in scripted television and movies all in a short few months. He quickly became a face you saw on TV constantly and just as quickly he (and his show) became the thing that every other show parodied. This was a real shift in television, more or less out nowhere The Morton Downey Jr. Show was all anyone was talking and then… Bam! It was over.

What happened? Why have so many people only heard about this series in hushed whispers and places such as this?

As I stated earlier while Morton Downey Jr. would be catapulted into the mainstream it was not a fire that burned very long. There are reasons for that.

The Morton Downey Jr. Show was always about as over the top and staged as you could get and with demands to be bigger and bigger every other week things spiraled out of control.

Guests started leaking stories that the show was staged, confrontations were engineered by the staff and then it all came to a head in April of 1989. Downey claimed he was attacked by neo-nazi’s at San Francisco International Airport who shaved his head and spray-painted a swastika on his face. Why neo-nazi’s though when Morton was a far right spokesman? Well shortly before this incident Geraldo Rivera got into a fight with neo-nazi’s on his show and they famously broke his nose so it seems neo-nazi’s were a fast and easy villain. This “attack” made national news until police started to poke holes in the story. No one (including the security at San Francisco International Airport) could find evidence of the neo-nazi’s and it was strange that the swastika on his face was backwards… almost like he painted it himself in a mirror. After this revelation Morton was the walking dead. His fanbase abandoned him, his staff quit and he was very quickly dropped from his syndication deal in most markets.

Morton’s career never recovered. He would appear in low budget movies such as Revenge Of The Nerds III and Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger but he was on the way down. He would have few high points from this era of his career though such as his Tales From The Crypt episode “Television Terror” where he more or less played himself but in the end that is one of the most legitimately scary episodes of the entire series. He also would (again mostly playing himself) appear in Predator 2.

A new show was attempted simply titled Downey which did not last long. Soon he was stuck hosting Munsters episodes on UHF TV. In the end though Morton would kind of repent and cast aside his old ways. Always with a cigarette in his mouth once he was diagnosed with lung cancer he became a staunch and hard anti-smoking advocate until his death.

With all of that said the question I pose to you the readers is… why did The Morton Downey Jr. Show fade into obscurity so hard when it was trailblazer for trash television? Without The Morton Downey Jr. Show television would be profoundly different.

There is a great documentary on Morton and the show titled Évocateur and full disclosure I played a part behind the scenes just to get that out there.

Joe Kubert’s Tarzan Vol. 3:  Tarzan and the Lion Man
and Other Stories Artist’s Edition
Written and Illustrated by Joe Kubert
Published by IDW Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-68405-289-9
Released 4/18/18 / $125.00

Joe Kubert’s Tarzan and the Lion Man Artist’s Edition is the latest example of a review proof book from Scott Dunbier and the fine folks at IDW. If you’re a Tarzan fan, you’ll probably love it. If you’re a fan of Joe Kubert, it’s a must-have double bag item (although you’ll need a big bag!).

I grew up a fan of the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films that were on TV every week throughout the 1960s. I also enjoyed Ron Ely’s radically different, Jane-free Tarzan adventures on his then current Tarzan series.

What I did NOT pay a lick of attention to, however, were Tarzan comic books. Not sure why. I remember seeing them around and I certainly didn’t have any aversion to Gold Key comics.

Thus it was, then, that the very first Tarzan comic book I ever actually bought was DC’s first issue in 1972, which also happened to be Joe Kubert’s first Tarzan story.

I confess to not having been a big Kubert fan before that. At a time when the smoothness of a Gil Kane or a Wally Wood, or the pure power of a Jack Kirby, was my idea of artistic perfection, Joe’s work just looked scratchy and almost unfinished to my untrained eye.

But for some reason, I decided to try DC’s Tarzan—Joe’s Tarzan. And I loved it! I seriously did. I could forget all the decades of issues I’d never seen from Dell and Gold Key and even Charlton and just start fresh here, introduced anew to my old Jungle King friend and for the first time, really, to the greatness of Joe Kubert’s art.

Which brings us to the book at hand. As always with this series, the pages in Joe Kubert’s Tarzan and the Lion Man Artist’s Edition are displayed to showcase their artwork, not for their stories. They are reproduced in the most detailed facsimile images to the original pages as modern technology allows, leaving intact any evidence of blue lines, marginal notes, paste-ups, screens, etc.

While the reader can spend literally hours checking out Kubert’s linework and page layouts and figuring out the thinking behind various artistic choices, one can also admire his simple mastery of facial expressions and physical anatomy. And yet, in his introductory remarks, Joe’s son Adam writes that, “This was Dad on auto-pilot… the pages you see here are him thinking out loud.” Adam adds, “This was Dad at his prime…and his prime lasted his whole life.”

Even if he had never started the well-known art school named for him, Joe Kubert’s importance in the history of comic books had long since been assured by work like this. Devouring the original art pages in Joe Kubert’s Tarzan and the Lion Man Artist’s Edition is all the proof anyone needs that Kubert was as good as it gets.

Booksteve Recommends!

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the multi-generational pop culture phenomenon, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Saban Brands, is proud to announce a stunning Power Rangers collection, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series (25th Anniversary Edition Steelbook). Spanning the first 3 seasons of the Power Rangers television series and spotlighting Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie for the first time on Blu-ray, this home entertainment collection features over 60 hours of action-packed entertainment across 19 DVDs and 1 Blu-ray, including hours of bonus content with brand-new interviews specific to the movie.

A must-have for the most dedicated Power Ranger fans, return to where the series began and re-live these thrill-packed adventures on August 7, 2018, when Shout! Factory, in collaboration with Saban Brands, unleashes the 20-disc stunning steelbook edition of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Complete Series.

Fans who buy from shoutfactory.com will also receive an exclusive, limited-edition 18”x24” lithograph, featuring art by Paul Shipper.

In 1993 two unsuspecting astronauts unleashed the greatest evil Earth had ever known — the heinous witch Rita Repulsa.

In the 25 years since, with each new villain more sinister than the last, the citizens of Earth have relied on the Power Rangers to protect them.

As a superhero team comprising “teenagers with attitude,” the Power Rangers must use their individual strengths combined with the virtue of teamwork to vanquish their foes, keeping Earth safe for another day.

Following its debut in 1993, Saban’s iconic live-action pop culture franchise, Power Rangers quickly became the most watched children’s television program in North America.

Emphasizing the importance of teamwork, responsibility and helping others by following the adventures of a group of ordinary young people who “morphed” into superheroes, this long-running series has been seen in more than 60 countries, translated into numerous languages, and remains a mainstay in children’s programming blocks.

For 25 years, the highly entertaining saga and fan favorite characters from Power Rangers have captivated children and adults alike and are beloved by legions of fans worldwide.

MMPR: The Movie Synopsis
Power up with six incredible teens who out-maneuver and defeat evil everywhere as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! But this time, the Power Rangers may have met their match when they face off with the most sinister monster the galaxy has even seen –Ivan Ooze. Unleashed upon the good citizens of Angel Grove after six thousand years of imprisonment, Ivan Ooze strips the Power Rangers and their leader, Zordon, of their powers. Now the Power Rangers must journey to a distant planet to learn the secrets of the ancient Ninjetti. Only then will they become empowered with a force strong enough to restore their Morphin ability and defeat the evil Ivan Ooze. Join the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and their new Ninja Megazord as they fight to save Angel Grove, and the world, from the forces of evil!

MMPR: The Movie Bonus Features (Blu-ray)

• The Mighty Leap to the Silver Screen: A look back at the movie with the cast and crew, including brand-new interviews with director Bryan Spicer and stars Johnny Yong Bosch and Paul Freeman
• Theatrical Trailer

MMPR TV Series Bonus Features (DVDs)

Bonus Disc 1

• “Morphin Time!” – A Look Back At Mighty Morphin Power Rangers With Interviews Featuring Members Of The Cast And Creative Team
• “A Morphenomenal Cast” – Casting Director Katy Wallin And the Cast Recall What It Took to Become Power Rangers
• “Lord Zedd’s Monster Heads”
• “Alpha’s Magical Christmas”
• “The Good, The Bad And The Stupid!”

Bonus Disc 2

• “The Fans Power Up” – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Fans Remember the Series
• Rare Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Fan Club Video
• “MMPR Karate Club” – The White Ranger Kata
• “Power Rangers Live” – The World Tour

About Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory, LLC is a diversified multi-platform media company devoted to producing, uncovering, preserving and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their entire careers sharing their music, television and film favorites with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s entertainment offerings serve up feature films, classic and contemporary TV series, animation, live music and comedy specials. In addition, Shout! Factory maintains a vast entertainment distribution network which delivers culturally relevant programming, movie and audio content to all the leading digital service providers in North America and across multiple platforms. Shout! Factory owns and operates Shout! Studios, Scream Factory, Shout! Factory Kids, Shout! Factory Films, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Timeless Media Group and Shout! Factory TV. These riches are the result of a creative acquisition mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Los Angeles, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit shoutfactory.com

Lionsgate / Released 5/15/18

Synopsis: When a drug bust goes wrong, ex-cop Danny Gallagher’s (Karl Urban) quest for justice leads him to the car-bomb murder of a government official’s wife. As Gallagher learns that the woman’s secret lover was a seductive federal agent (Sofia Vergara) he finds himself under fire. But from whom — his own cops, a vengeful drug lord, the CIA, or someone even more ruthless? This pulse-pounding thriller also stars Andy Garcia and Grace Byers.

Extras: featurette, cast & crew interviews.

Review:  Bent is one of those films that’s so forgettable that even describing it as, “the movie about the disgraced cop who gets out of prison and goes after the criminals that put him there reveals a bigger conspiracy,” immediately makes you think of several other better films with a similar plot.

Part of the problem is the screenplay is so uninspired that nothing within feels particularly fresh, and certainly nothing we haven’t seen before.  Urban does a satisfactory enough job, but lacks the energy and charisma necessary to elevate this performance into something memorable (which is a shame, since I find his work in the Star Trek franchise fantastic).  A “where are they now” appearance from Vincent Spano was a pleasant surprise, but Andy Garcia looks bloated and bored and the less said about Sofia Vergara’s acting talents the better.

It isn’t that Bent is a bad movie; it’s perfectly watchable.  But it’s such a cliché-ridden, by the numbers procedural, that by the time you realize that Urban’s character is missing from the final showdown, you’ve already forgotten what the plot was to begin with.

Produced by Simon Kinberg,
Ryan Reynolds, Lauren Shuler Donner
Written by Rhett Reese,
Paul Wernick, Ryan Reynolds
Based on Deadpool created by
Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld
Directed by David Leitch
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin,
Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison,
Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Jack Kesy,
Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić 

Deadpool is back with Cable and X-Force in the fourth-wall breaking Deadpool 2!  Stuntman and director of Atomic Blonde, David Leitch, directs Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin in the sequel to Tim Miller’s 2016 X-Men solo film.  That’s right, don’t forget this is the eleventh film in the Fox franchise though this sequel owes more to its own preceding film than any of the Bryan Singer movies.

By nature, Deadpool 2 is a raucous, ridiculous ride. Controversial comedian T. J. Miller returns as Weasel and Gotham‘s Morena Baccarin comes back as Wade Wilson’s fiancé, Vanessa.

Tiny dick jokes? Check. Introduction of a brand new X-Team? Check. A swole Josh Brolin as Cable? Check, and bonus points for Thanos jokes. Making fun of ‘Martha’ and the dark and gritty DC Movie Universe? CHECK!

Being self-aware is sort of what Deadpool does, and Deadpool 2 carries on not only the spirit of the comic book character but also adds too and completes the story of the first movie. I had doubts when Tim Miller was let go of the sequel and thought it would be hard to bottle lightning twice with this kind of movie.

Perhaps it is easier to do a send-up than to take the genre entirely seriously, that I don’t know, but these Deadpool movies are a hell of a lot of fun. The “R” rating for Deadpool 2 probably has something as much to do with the scads of hands chopped off within 5 minutes of the movie opening than it has for the number of bad words.

Wade’s taxi friend Dopinder returns in the sequel, desperately trying to be DP’s sidekick but never quite gets there, no matter how many Tony Robbins books he listens to driving the getaway car for our Merc With a Mouth. Deadpool has returned to his roots as an assassin for hire when we catch up with him at the beginning of the movie. The rest of the movie is told in a flashback when it is revealed that ‘Deadpool Must Die’.

I don’t aim to spoil the film in this review but I will reveal that the buildup with Céline Dion’s Ashes social media campaign to promote the movie pays off with an opening credit scene straight out of classic James Bond or better yet, Skyfall. In a way, Deadpool is an assassin but I never quite drew an immediate Bond comparison until now! You’ve seen the poster with Deadpool being showered in bullets á la Flashdance, that is taken from this Broccoli Bond parody sequence!

Most of the cast from the previous movie returns, Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Blind Al and of course the X-Mansion. We’re introduced to Zazie Beetz as Domino, a young mutant named Firefist played by Julian Dennison, Terry Crews as Bedlam, Bill Skarsgård as Zeitgeist, Lewis Tan as the alien Shatterstar and of course our favorite comedian Rob Delaney as Peter. Peter’s just a beekeeper that showed up to Wade and Weasel’s casting because he saw the ad. Delaney’s mustache could be the star of the show.

Of course I’m burying the lede here, the breakout movie star is already starring in the biggest movie of the summer. One wonders which movie was more fun for Brolin to film? My guess is his starring role as Nathan Summers/Cable. Is he Scott Summers’ son? Who’s Hope? Why the scorched teddy bear? You’ll have to watch Deadpool 2 to find out. It is hard not to love a guy like Brolin in an ‘action comedy’ role.

Starting with K in Men in Black 3, this guy with a chiseled face coupled with the rigorous training he did to look like a Liefeld drawing, Brolin plays the tough guy that when he jokes or does something small like take lip balm out of one of his many pouches makes the theatre erupt in laughter. Why wasn’t this movie called Cable and Deadpool?

After an impossibly grim explosion, Colossus takes Deadpool back to the X-Mansion to piece himself back together. This Deadpool is nearly immortal from the damage done to him, in fact, blown to bits or ripped apart like C-3PO does not slow him down. While recovering, he steals the Professor X’s chair for a joyride around the mansion and Colossus asks him to join the team as a trainee. The movie takes off on its mission to take on Firefist after a distress call. Let’s just say he’s not embraced as part of the team and Deadpool and Firefist are both locked up!

Oh, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead has a cute girlfriend now and her name is Yukio, she’s an assassin.

As far as Easter Eggs are concerned, we’ll have to see it again to notice more, because Deadpool 2 wears it’s humor out on its sleeve for the most part. Sure there are cameos, but also Dopinder’s cab has an advertisement for “Alpha Flight Travel Agency”. A familiar villain that was in a previous X-Men movie (bitch!) also fucks some shit up for the X-Force team and is portrayed more to scale than he was the last time.

Deadpool 2 is big and dumb and fun and silly and violent and is exactly what a comic book movie should be, big and dumb and fun. We’ll have to wait to see if we will see more of Cable and Deadpool if they both survive the end of the events of Deadpool 2, but I have to say, I’m delighted to say that Ryan Reynolds did it again.

The comparisons to Logan and Jackman aside, both Reynolds and Brolin can now occupy the headspace of fans like RDJ does for Iron Man. Will we see Jackman, Robert Downey, Jr., Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin in a Marvel movie one day? Probably not but GOD, I hope so!

As soon as you can, see Deadpool 2 for the Josh Brolin movie of the summer!

Chimichangas not included.

Their universe is in danger! And the Winchester brothers continue on their journey to save the world as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Supernatural: The Complete Thirteenth Season on Blu-ray and DVD on September 4, 2018. The set contains all 23 gripping episodes from Season Thirteen and is packed with over three hours of bonus content – with three all-new featurettes including the epic Making of Scoobynatural, audio commentaries, the show’s packed 2017 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes and a priceless gag reel. Supernatural: The Complete Thirteenth Season is priced to own at $49.99 SRP on DVD and $54.97 SRP on Blu-ray including a Digital Copy. Supernatural: The Complete Thirteenth Season is also currently available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.

Last season, the Winchesters were reunited with their resurrected mother, Mary, who joined forces with the British Men of Letters. But things turned from bad to worse, with the return of Lucifer and the surprising revelation that the Devil was expecting a child with a human mother. In Season Thirteen, Sam and Dean find themselves facing Lucifer’s offspring, a creature of almost unimaginable power – one that could save the world… or destroy it.

“After thirteen thrilling seasons and with continued ardent fandom, there is no denying that Supernatural is an extraordinary TV success story,” said Rosemary Markson, WBHE Senior Vice President, Television Marketing. “We are delighted to release the latest season of the groundbreaking genre series with over three hours of new extras for fans to devour before Season 14.”

Supernatural has spawned several novels, magazines, comics, games and an anime series and stars Jared Padalecki (Friday the 13th, Gilmore Girls) and Jensen Ackles (Smallville, My Bloody Valentine) as Sam and Dean Winchester, with Misha Collins (24; Girl Interrupted) as Castiel. Season Thirteen also stars Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Dexter, Capote) as Lucifer and Alexander Calvert (Arrow, The Edge of Seventeen) as his son, Jack. Created by Eric Kripke (Revolution, Timeless), the thirteenth season of the hit series was executive produced by Andrew Dabb, Robert Singer (Timecop, Lois & Clark), Phil Sgriccia (Smallville), Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming (Lois & Clark) and Jeremy Carver (Frequency, Being Human). Produced by Kripke Enterprises, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television, Supernatural returns for its fourteenth season this fall on The CW.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Mystery Mash-Up: The Making of Scoobynatural
• Into The Apocalypse: A World Without The Winchesters
• The Winchester Mythology: Rise of the Nephilim
• Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son: Performance at 2017 San Diego Comic-Con
• Supernatural: 2017 Comic-Con Panel
• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel

Written by Joshua Williamson,
James T Tynion IV, Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Francis Manapul, Marcus To

I guess it’s true what they say. Good things really do come to those who wait. And we didn’t even have to wait long.

What a difference a week makes. Now that the obligatory pre-requisite set-up for our tale has been taken care of in issue #1, Justice League: No Justice #2 kicks into a higher gear, with a script that fairly shines. Writers Snyder, Williamson and Tynion IV waste no time getting to the action after the surprise head-exploding twist at the end of last issue. They can’t afford to. There’s a giant space god about to devour Braniac’s home world of Colu.

But you can always count on the League to be good in a crisis. Reservations not-withstanding, our space-tossed super teams decide their best course of action forward is to do what they can to follow Braniac’s plan without him. Thankfully there’s a giant literal Tree of virtual data that’s formed on Colu – the Tree of Wisdom they decide. And as their suits seem programmed to take one team directly to it, and each of the others to the four corners of the world where presumably the dormant Tree of Mystery, Tree of Wonder, and Tree of Entropy await, their paths seem clear.

Their mission: to reactivate each dormant Tree, releasing their energies, so as to balance the world and shut down the prime directive of the hungry, hungry space gods.

If that sounds baffling and a little crazy, thankfully our heroes feel just the same way. There’s no lack of confusion and dissension among the ranks, making the challenge before them easier for the reader to relate with. But of course, they all leap into action nonetheless, and soon each team is embroiled in a big riddle and more than a little mayhem at each Tree, nicely depicted in a montage of shots that keep everything moving and tied together. Doesn’t hurt to have the telepathic coordination of Martian Manhunter back in the game again too.

Finally.

The whole thing is a lot of fun to read. The script benefits from excellent plotting, managing a tremendous amount of action and development with apparent ease. This in turn is substantially assisted by Manapul’s panels, which are beautifully laid out in scenes that convey so much variety and action per page, it’s like being in a candy store. And here again, Hi-Fi’s colors work wonders to behold.

But where this book really shines is the dialogue.

Maybe our team of writers, like the League itself, work best under pressure. But after finding its way in issue #1, the script in #2 does not disappoint. Each character is captured beautifully. Their interaction, their behavior and their choices are each entirely true to form, with nuance and humor that makes all the difference in a book with a big cast like this. No mean feat with so much going on, but it’s handled superbly and it’s a breath of relief as things really get going.

Ironically the one thing that doesn’t fully satisfy is the rally cry to bond this disparate crew all as Justice Leaguers. Compared to the sparkle of dialogue throughout, this perfunctory moment falls a little flat. But it’s a necessary step, and it serves its purpose. Which is good, because our new League still has to contend with what it exactly means for them to unleash so much bottled up Mystery, Wonder and Entropy into the world, or for that matter, the universe.

To say nothing of the crisis taking shape back home. Things all seems a little hopeless in fact. Good thing we don’t believe that by now.

Justice League Unite. The action continues in one week.

Written by Ian Flynn, Mark Russell,
Patrick Gleason, Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Scott Godlewski,
Kaare Andrews, Bryan Hitch 

Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason say goodbye to The Man of Steel in Superman Special #1 this week. The oversized special also features a backup by Mark Russell and Bryan Hitch and another by Ian Flynn and Caare Andrews.

This book is certainly meant to be a companion piece to Action Comics #1000 to tie up loose ends before Brian Michael Bendis takes over Superman duties at DC with rebooted numbering and some enhancements to the origin.

Tomasi and Gleason are a superstar team, going back to Batman and Robin as well as teaming up on Super Sons starring a new Superboy Jonathan Kent and Robin Damian Wayne in DC’s Rebirth.

Scott Godlewski draws the Tomasi / Gleason story and it looks spectacular. Jonathan Kent is contemplating the story from Superman #8 and #9 on Dinosaur Island with Captain Storm of The Losers.

Closing the chapter as it were, Supes and Jon return to The Fortress of Solitude for a solution to return to Dinosaur Island. The port into the stomach of the T-Rex about to snack on Captain Storm, just in the nick of time.

After fighting off hybrid zombie monsters composed of lizards and dead soldiers, they all return to the present day and Storm gets to play the ‘frozen in ice’ card. Back in Metropolis, the rescued Loser trades in his lizard leg with a new prosthetic courtesy of Cyborg.

Tom Petty’s “Even The Losers” plays on Storm’s pickup as he heads on a mission to return the dog tags of his platoon to their respective families.

Lois and Clark tuck in to bed with some on the nose banter about shutting the bedroom door to add to the reflective mood of the story.

In all this was an action packed story with some nostalgia thrown in and Superboy teaming up with his Dad! What more could you ask for in a farewell? Beat that, Bendis!

Russell and Hitch’s story deals with a giant Atlantean insect finding his way to the streets of Metropolis, Supes takes the Buddhist way out and returns him to the sea but not without saving a few dogs and elderly along the way.

Ian Flynn’s story with Kaare Andrews has floating skull character Atomic Skull joining the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit under Maggie Sawyer. Does this unlikely Brave and the Bold team-up result in multiple arrests? The Odd Couple indeed! We see plenty of villains playing the good guy role these days and this story was fun, but maybe I just like glowing skulls.

This was a great special, I hate to say it but attention wise, this may be a better comic than Action Comics #1000. I’ll take three well done stories any day over page counts stuffed with pinups!

Written by Aaron Gillespie, Scott Snyder
Art by Klaus Janson, Andy Kubert

Sometimes you just have to go all the way.

That doesn’t always work for me in a comic. But it certainly can. A lot depends on what you’re working with, like whether there are expected parameters with certain properties – histories, values, characters norms you just don’t want to mess with.

Then there are times when the project allows you to run wild and make your own rules. Pushing every envelope you can find. That’s rare in mainstream comics, and harder to pull off. It’s a treat when we get a chance to see it done well.

Scott Snyder hasn’t really had one of those projects in DC. Though he’s certainly tried. He’s known for pushing the needle and delivering outrageous plotlines, and stories just this side of madness. But with big guns like Batman and the Justice League, you have to work within at least some expectations.

That is not at all the case with New Challengers #1, and it makes for a damned exciting venture.

New Challengers is a reinvention of an old DC property. Challengers of the Unknown, as many will remember, was an underground hit in the 60’s, enough so that the idea, and sometimes the team has made regular reappearances over the years. But the core concept was a team of fairly ordinary, if exceptional, human joes taking on the unknown with their wits, their brass, and a fair amount of technical know-how. Still… nothing super particularly. Nothing meta-human. That’s a recipe that gradually fizzled out in the Silver Age of comic-dom, and it never fully recovered. Until now.

In the new remake of Challengers, scripted by Scott Snyder and Aaron Gillespie and drawn with flair by Andy Kubert and Klaus Jansen, the team is still comprised of ordinary men and women. But they are absolutely the only thing ordinary about the book. It’s a neat twist, and it works: rather than upgrade the team, Snyder, Gillespie and Kubert have upgraded the set-up. And what an upgrade.

Seems the Challengers we knew, the original fighting four, are just one of an endless legacy of teams, stretching back through human history. Their purpose, supposedly, to adventure forth to moments and places around the globe (and then some) that require their unique brand of heroic intervention. ‘To keep thing in balance’, or so the team is told.

You’ll forgive them for not knowing exactly what that means – they’ve only just been yanked away from true death, conscripted down the rabbit hole into a world of madness coming at them at breakneck speed.

Ever since Synder plunked Challengers mountain itself into the heart of Gotham in Dark Knights: Metal it’s seemed likely that he’s had plans in mind for the old Challengers of the Unknown legacy. But releasing this book amongst the raft of DC’s other Marvel-inspired projects, one of which already works from the Fantastic Four motif (That’s The Terrifics, if you’ve been keeping track!) it’s been unclear exactly what that would look like. Now we know. It looks a bit like the Exiles.

Random team of stalwart adventurers thrown together with no apparent way to return to their former lives? Check. Forced to jump unceremoniously from crisis to crisis, through some manner of hyper-reality, hyper-plugged-in ‘porting intelligence? Check. Mysterious chaperone with an opaque and perfunctory manner, and an even more mysterious agenda? Dire threat of world-ending consequences if our heroes do not fail to jump exactly when and where they’re told to jump? Check and check.

Not that we expect that status quo to last long. Or anything else for that matter. Gillespie and Snyder make one thing very clear by the end of the first issue: don’t assume what you think you know. For that matter don’t assume anything. Because the moment you do, you’re probably going to be proved very wrong.

It’s clear Gillespie and Snyder are having a blast and taking full advantage of that wide-open blank creative canvass you can just feel Snyder’s been itching to work on. Just the sheer inventiveness at play is exhilarating. Great characters, great mythology, great big unanswered questions all over the place… \

What is Challenger’s mountain really? Who’s that big, dead giant corpse at the heart of it? Who are the players in this mystic-cosmic rodeo, and are our heroes actually on the side of the angels? Are we ever going to see Red Tornado again in these pages? How about the Hawks? And is that a half-crazed Negative Man running around with the mystic bones of Joe Kelly’s Shaman? Hm.

I can’t fail to mention again the brilliant work of Andy Kubert. I’ve gone in and out with his work over the years, but he’s produced some of his finest lines for New Challengers. His signature flourishes are balanced here with a measured clean look and layout that holds the story together visually, up to and including a spread of utterly fantastic splash pages towards the very end, which makes it clear, if it hasn’t become so already, that New Challengers promises to be something entirely unlike anything else going.

Time to break some rules. The New Challengers are off to the ends of the earth and beyond. It’s anybody’s guess where that’s going to end up. Because if you can’t expect anything… expect everything.

Written by Paul Dini
Art by Bret Blevins

Paul Dini returns to his creation, Harley Quinn, in a two issue mini-series, Harley Loves Joker. Issue #2 is on shelves this week but it makes sense to review the story as a whole, it is likely your store will still have issue #1 or download both on the DC Comics app.

Harley and Joker are living in what seems like domestic bliss, but there is a new threat stealing Mr. J’s attention. The Grison is a cat burglar in a weasel suit based on a South American ferret.  Ferret and weasel jokes run a plenty, and this story exists in the pocket of Batman: The Animated Series territory with one foot in the current Rebirth DCU.

Issue #1 deals with the introduction of The Grison and her laboratory origin story and Joker’s new obsession with her.

Issue #2 gives us Harley’s revenge and it starts out with a vignette inside Harley’s hamster wheel thought process.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel attempts to analyze Jester Harley while her (previously unrevealed) mother sits in judgement having cocktails at the bar!

All of this daydreaming is happening as The Grison is leading the gang on a boat heist! Joker abruptly snaps her out of it!

Batman makes a cameo in the book, as does Alfred when Harley drops a dime to Wayne Manor with an anonymous tip that Joker and Grison are about to break in to a Wayne Tech building. Alfred is not fooled by Harley’s Mrs. Doubtfire impression!

When the Quinzel personality pushes its way to dominance in Harley’s dream sequence, with crop top and spiked collar, we’re reminded that Harley is not just a one-dimensional clown. Harley is as schizophrenic as Joker himself. What started as the animated series character is something else entirely to a generation of fans. Perhaps this is Dini’s attempt to resolve that for himself. I think this short story was a success.

Does Harley fall back in to Mr. J’s good graces by the end of the book? You’d be crazy not to find out!

Actor Stefan Kapicic has had a pretty big week. Monday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed he has been cast In a recurring role on AMC’s Better Call Saul. Monday was also the New York premiere of Deadpool 2. The Hollywood elite were there, including but not limited to co-stars Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Lewis Tan, Morena Baccarin, Terry Crews, director David Leitch and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld among others.

The premier doubled as a fan screening and Kapicic said that being amongst the fans was a delight. The X-Men movies now have a canonical Colossus and as a comic book fan, Stefan couldn’t be happier.

Stefan took the time to talk to us by phone about comic book collecting, fan reactions to Deadpool 2 and how Ryan Reynolds and David Leitch lead the team to a successful sequel that hits as hard as The Empire Strikes Back.

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FOG!: Thanks for joining us!

Stefan Kapicic: Thanks for having me, especially coming from last night we had such a spectacular premiere in New York, so I’m still trying to process all the emotions and everything that happened last night.

How was it, were you hanging out with Rob Liefeld?

I was hanging out with everybody, it was the whole cast and we were just going through all the things and talking about filming and everything else, everyone was just so happy because of this crazy success that is happening right now. People are telling is that it is much better than the first one, and I thought, “Nobody can beat the first Deadpool“.

It’s really surreal in that way, because last night at the premier at the same time it was a fan screening and we had the reaction from the true, real fans which was indescribable. This is amazing, I don’t know what to tell you because I am still under this impression.

You’re right, I was lucky enough to see the movie and you’re right, I didn’t know how you could have topped Deadpool, but you did.

I think we are having The Empire Strikes Back effect, you know. The sequel can beat the first one, which doesn’t happen…at all…ever! That’s the beauty of Deadpool, definitely because you just never know what to expect.

I’m reading some of the reviews from Variety and Entertainment Weekly, everybody. These reviews are insane. We are so blessed as a team, but I think it is coming from the other side which is the chemistry between actors and producers. I think the amazing energy that we have between us is just something that goes into the film. And we have Ryan as a team leader in this in every single way. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it is that love between everybody on the team that makes this movie, the first one and then the sequel and who knows what will happen in the future because this is an unstoppable franchise.

People are sending me social media, so much love, and so many DMs and tweets and texts and Instagram posts about how they felt amazing after the movie. It’s a feel-good movie, something that people need at this moment. It’s something that Deadpool can bring. It really is a specific genre, it is such a specific and brilliant genre (film). If you can make something new, create a new genre in the twenty-first century, Deadpool is definitely that. Because it is really hard to create something like this.

I hear you are a huge comic book fan.

I am!

Colossus front and center in his first appearance

Here’s the thing, when I think of Wolverine, the voice in my head when I am reading comic books and the guy I see is Hugh Jackman. And Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man to me. Now, you are Colossus to me. How does that make you feel?

Oh, Thank you, thank you so much! That means a lot. That’s surreal.

As you said, I am a huge comic book geek. I’m collecting the artwork and I just bought three of the first Colossus appearances, the Giant Size X-Men #1 from 1975.

I found one that is in mint condition signed by Dave Cockrum the original artist of Colossus. You can understand what its like to get an issue like that and to hold it in your hands.

I like to say that playing Colossus is an Academy Award for my inner child, my inner geek!

Its even better, right?

You know, for a lot of actors, doing this job, they aren’t in to comic books. Its like a job, a great role, a career move. But for me, it’s something totally different, because as an actor, I’m so happy because I’m a part of this franchise but I fulfilled my childhood dream.

My dream in general was becoming one of the X-Men. If you asked me 10 years ago what was my dream role, I would say to be a part of X-Men in any way.

The funny thing is, I’m coming from Eastern Europe so my language is really close to Russian language, the same root. You know, I could play an American super hero but there are only a few characters that you can play maybe like one hero which is Colossus. And to get this kind of a lottery in that way, thanks to Fox and Tim Miller who’s idea in the beginning with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to take Colossus from the X-Men and bring him in to the Deadpool world, the stars were on my side in that way.

I was extremely proud of what I did in the first part, but having a chance, especially in the sequel, I am even more a part of it.

You are a bigger part of this movie!

Yes, and the beauty is we made Colossus and Deadpool such an amazing duo. They are totally different as characters but they have an unbelievable chemistry as heroes because we just upgraded their relationship in the sequel. You can see how much Colossus cares and loves Deadpool. Even if Deadpool if is such a specific character to love.

Then again, you can see their relationship which makes me happy as an artist. In this kind of movie it is really hard to get this kind of emotion because we have so many funny and action things, but we did it. We put Colossus as one of the most important characters in the Deadpool franchise besides the Deadpool character. This is a beauty, what is happening in the mansion, and the cameo, you know the one I am talking about!

So great! People will be talking about it!

We can’t talk about it, I don’t want to spoil anything for people but there are some things in this movie that you think you know what you are going to get, because it is Deadpool or whatever but what you get is so much more than you ever expected! That’s really a sort of magic.

Now I also want to also ask you about the relationship you have with Negasonic Teenage Warhead and also why do you think Professor X puts Colossus in that kind of role in the X-Mansion? Why is he the mentor to everybody?

You know the comic world, and a lot of time people are going away from the comics but Colossus is one of those guys that just takes care of everyone. He’s old school super hero, he has such amazing morals and ethics and he believes that everybody has a good heart. He sacrifices himself sometimes in the comic books.

His relationship with Negasonic, in the first part, she was a trainee. He was the guy that brings the best out of people. He is teaching them to be the real old school super hero.

When you think about it, Colossus is Marvel’s response to Superman. He is the ‘Man of Steel’ of course, (laughs) but he is the old-school guy. The guy that does it the real way.

He does the right thing at the right time.

Yes! Yes, that is why he is teaching the youngsters in Xavier’s school. Professor Xavier would trust him with these things. You know that you can always trust Colossus. He doesn’t have any other issues. Its like we have it in the movie, he comes always as a deus ex machina, as a person who saves the day. He’s going to sacrifice himself, he’s going to do it for the team, he’s going to go first. That’s the beauty of the character, he has a pure soul.

I am so proud I have the opportunity to portray this kind of a character, and give him his soul and on this one I did everything regarding CGI and VFX and the face, and you can see my face now because we changed so many things. I have a much bigger job to do in the sequel. That’s why I’m much more proud of my portrayal in this one.

When you are doing the mo-cap and the voice, are David and Ryan there with you?

Always. Always. Both and we have, every actor has a stunt double for the action scenes and there are things the studio just doesn’t let you do by yourself. The thing is, Ryan is always with me and that’s a huge help and those are really long days, and I am thankful for all of the support.

My part is really important for the story and everything else. And Ryan is such a great colleague and friend in that way, he’s always there to give me an idea, something to improvise. He owns his character, of course I did the first part so this is not a new thing for me.

But the new thing was doing so much with the CGI, the effects, all of these cameras in my face, face mapping and all of these things. For all the efforts, all of the fights, it’s really something new for me but I am a theater actor first of all so I was used to doing this in continuity in many ways in theatre, so it was a tough job but it was a beautiful job for me. And the result is unbelievable.

It really is great! Do you think you’ll ever get to do the old “Fastball Special” in one of these movies?

I pray for that! It’s my wish, that’s a trademark of Colossus and Wolverine’s relationship. I think the fans would be geeking out. The fans will geek out when they see the anthology fight that we have in the sequel.

The fights, everything is so great and amped up. Everything looks great in this movie. Deadpool 2 is really soulful and it’s really special. The first movie is really special and this one is too. I think people are really going to be happy.

This doesn’t happen. Things like this, I’m thinking when I wake up in the morning, “Did this really happen, was it possible that we made this?” You start to do the sequel and you know the hype about the first one and then you make such an amazing sequel. I’m thinking, “How is this possible?”

As I said, It’s because we have a great team and everyone is connected. There is not even one bad place not one bad actor in the movie. Every single actor did his job amazingly.

You’ve got new talent, you have Josh Brolin who already had a big comic book movie this summer.

Oh my God, That man is unbelievable!

You said, Ryan owns his character, he really does, he’s responsible for this. You had a great time with Tim Miller last time and with David here, its great to see.

It’s unbelievable and a dream come true for every actor in the movie. For me on the other side, this is really the first time I’m a franchise actor, I’m in two amazing movies in a row and we never know how many more it is going to be, but with these two, there will be lots of good things in the future for every single one of us, especially the main team.

Lastly we have to congratulate you on your Better Call Saul casting news. You are Colossus to me, so when I watch Better Call Saul, I will say, “That’s Colossus” but that is just great news. I really do hope we get to see more, more of this universe, no matter what it is. It is the X-Men Universe after all, I’d like to see Colossus and Deadpool interact with the other characters, it will be great.

I think you can do this three times. At least…

I pray for that!

Deadpool 2 arrives in theaters on Friday, May 18th
Follow Stefan on Instagram @StefanKapicic

Written by Tom King
Illustrated by Tony S. Daniel
Published by DC Comics

Well, this one hit me hard. I didn’t expect the ending of this to emotionally land the way it did. But when I finished this issue, I actually sat in silence for a few minutes. It’s actually that powerful of an ending.

Tom King has been doing superb work on this title as of late, and I’m glad he found his stride. He hits all the right beats in this storyline and it’s a powerhouse of a book that packs a wallop.

This is the third part of “The Gift.”

In it, Booster Gold decides to give Batman a gift that goes horribly wrong. So, a time anomaly forms. It leads to a nightmare world for Bruce and Selina.

The way King writes Booster Gold is admirable. He’s sort of a Shakespearean character here, full of mischief. He also is very far out and funny.

One of the best scenes in the book is when Booster winks at the reader and Bruce notices.

King keeps the entire issue playful and creative. There’s a crazy, subversive energy throughout. The best scene, besides the ending, involved Booster shaving his insane looking beard. It’s a one page process but man, it’s so well done. Every panel has energy and style.

That’s also because King’s collaborator is so damn strong. The panel layouts and “acting” Daniel gives the book and the characters is fantastic. Every moment counts and it feels almost like music when these two creators are doing their thing. Just watch the scene where Batman and Catwoman’s heads just “pop!” Its crazy good.

But all the fun lead to those last few pages. This storyline has had some emotional moments beforehand. Issue 46 left us with a pretty devastating scene. It doesn’t compare to this. This will hit you hard and you will remember it.

I wanted to point out the excellent cover for the book too. It’s a very “Pre-Crisis” cover that says so much about the issue with one image.

King has taken a three part story that seemed like a throwaway and instead made it count and count big. I’ll never forget this storyline. The dialogue in the last scene also chilled me to the bone. It will do the same for you. This is a top notch comic book. Recommended.

RATING: A