Produced by Kathleen Kennedy,
Allison Shearmur, Simon Emanuel
Screenplay by Jonathan Kasdan
and Lawrence Kasdan
Based on Characters by George Lucas
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson,
Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton,
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo,
Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Linda Hunt

As someone who grew up with and loved the hell out of the original Star Wars films (mostly because of Han Solo), I’ve kept my expectations for this prequel skeptically low. How can you create a satisfying backstory to one of the greatest film characters of all time, as played by one of everyone’s favorite actors?

Against all odds, the awkwardly titled Solo: A Star Wars Story mostly succeeds.

Mostly.

There are some clunky moments and some spectacular hyper-jumps of faith on the part of the audience.

But once the film gets going, and you start to accept that this young guy with the Han Solo haircut is Han Solo-ish enough, it’s a highly enjoyable ride. (How Han gets his last name earns a hard eyeroll, however.)

And, happily, the new characters it introduces, especially the rebellion-minded robot L3-37, are worth the price of admission.

Behind the scenes, as you well know, Ron Howard stepped in to take over the film after The Lego Movie‘s directing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were sacked. You can spend the movie guessing which scenes remain of Lord and Miller’s work: Reportedly, only about 30 percent of the finished film is theirs.

I’m guessing that some of the more sentimental symbolism is Howard’s input and some of the broader jokes are Lord and Miller’s. The main villain, the suave but short-tempered Dryden Vos (played by Paul Bettany) was entirely added after Howard joined the film.

The more pressing question is: How is Alden Ehrenreich as Han? He was the best thing in Hail, Caesar!, ably stealing the show from George Clooney and Channing Tatum. But Han Solo is an entirely different kind of character from that “aw shucks” cowpoke.

It really isn’t until Han crosses paths with criminal mentor Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) that we see some of that roguish spark. There are moments when you see a little Harrison Ford in there. A raised eyebrow. A shrug. You kind of squint and you think… maybe? And it doesn’t hurt that Ehrenreich is immensely likable and can strike a good pose with a blaster when needed.

Once the plot really kicks in and Han has met Chewie (now played by the towering Joonas Suotamo), you find yourself rooting for this plucky kid, his hairy new BFF, and their criminal cohorts to succeed at a very complicated heist.

While it takes some work to accept Ehrenreich as Han (and stop thinking of Emilia Clarke as Khaleesi), Donald Glover is instantly, perfectly Lando Calrissian. And good lord, is this film going to launch a million Han/Lando fanfics. And not just because Glover has said that his space smuggler is “pansexual.”

That’s probably the best way to describe this film: Like one long fanfic that takes some sacred fan favorites out to play. It doesn’t feel really official. Some things just feel off. But it is a lot of fun.

As Qi’Ra, a woman from Han’s past, Clarke finds herself in situations as tricky to negotiate as any on Game of Thrones. And while she doesn’t get as many fight scenes as Rey, she’s got some killer moves.

Also making the film better: Thandie Newton as Val, the tough cynical partner to Harrelson’s Beckett. And Lando’s cranky, independent robot L3-37. (She’s voiced by British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whose work you’re going to want to binge now. You might know her from Broadchurch or Fleabag. Or as the creator of BBC’s Killing Eve! Donald Glover isn’t the only insanely creative person on this film.)

I’m rating Solo: A Star Wars Story (wow, do I still hate that title) a little lower than the other recent films in the franchise. But, it’s also probably the one I’m more likely to rewatch, partly because there’s nothing as wrenching as the big losses of The Force Awakens, Rogue One or The Last Jedi.

Is it as good as it might have been?

No, but then again, it’s nowhere near the terrible misfire it could have been.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Join an immersive virtual universe when “Ready Player One” arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD. From Warner Bros. Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures, along with filmmaker Steven Spielberg, comes the action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon.

In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spend their days. In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone—the only limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense fortune and total control of the OASIS to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends—known as the High Five—are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world.

“Ready Player One” stars Tye Sheridan (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Mud”), Olivia Cooke (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” TV’s “Bates Motel”) and Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One – A Star Wars Story,” TV’s “Bloodline”). The ensemble cast also includes Lena Waithe (TV’s “Master of None”), T.J. Miller (“Deadpool,” TV’s “Silicon Valley”), Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”), Simon Pegg (the “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” movies) and Oscar® winner Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Dunkirk”).

Three-time Oscar winner Spielberg directed the film from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. It is based on the novel by Cline, which has now spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers List, recently climbing to the No. 1 spot, as well as reaching No. 1 on Amazon’s Most Read Fiction chart. “Ready Player One” was produced by Donald De Line, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Dan Farah. Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Chris deFaria and Bruce Berman served as executive producers.

“Ready Player One” will be available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99 and DVD for $28.98. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack features an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the theatrical version in 4K with HDR, a Blu-ray disc featuring the theatrical version and a Digital version of the movie. The Blu-ray Combo Pack features a Blu-ray disc with the film in hi-definition, a Blu-ray disc with the special features in hi-definition, a DVD with the film in standard definition and a Digital version of the movie.

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of “Ready Player One” will feature Dolby Vision HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame.

Also, the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs of “Ready Player One” will feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. To experience Dolby Atmos at home, a Dolby Atmos enabled AV receiver and additional speakers are required, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar. Dolby Atmos soundtracks are also fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment.

“Ready Player One” will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

Fans can also own “Ready Player One” via purchase from digital retailers beginning July 3.

BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS

“Ready Player One” 4K Ultra HD 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:

• Game Changer: Cracking the Code
• Effects for a Brave New World
• Level Up: Sound for the Future
• High Score: Endgame
• Ernie & Tye’s Excellent Adventure
• The ’80’s: You’re The Inspiration

“Ready Player One” Standard Definition DVD contains the following special features:

• The ’80’s: You’re The Inspiration

Written by Joshua Williamson,
James T Tynion IV, Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Riley Rossmo, Marcus To

“Either shoot me, Amanda, or give me your radio. I will not let you kill my family no matter how many space gods you threaten me with.”

And the pendulum swings.

In my review of Justice League: No Justice #1, I said the primary thing that would determine whether this mini-series holds up for me, is how well Snyder and his team convince me that what is happening is believable. That’s the defining rule of all fiction: Is what you’re writing something that your audience will accept?

In comics of course, there is wide latitude for what is acceptable. The bizarre, wondrous and incredible are the constant staple of superhero stories.

Even so, there are rules and norms that contain the medium’s best storytelling. Norms that have evolved over time. And there are internal consistencies that all stories need to respect if you’re going to hold the faith of your audience.

There’s been a trend in comics for several years that seems to enjoy pushing that envelope, and Scott Snyder is definitely in the camp of those who like to do that. Much of his style relies on forcing big concepts through the medium and its characters. That works sometimes. And sometimes it over-reaches.

There was always that danger in this series, and Issue #3 of No Justice runs right into it, headlong. I won’t fault it completely. It’s endemic to the story they’re telling really – which was ambitious from the start, to say the least – and also to the shortness of the series – which so far as I can see, was unavoidable.

And if the main criteria, is simply how well Snyder, Williamson, and Tynion IV manage the actual feat of storytelling itself, within the time and space they’ve allowed themselves, then definitely it’s a success.

But do I believe it? Do I accept it? Mm.

Start with the recap. Our heroes have positioned themselves to save the day at each of Colu’s four major World Trees of Wisdom, Wonder, Mystery and Entropy. All they need to do is ‘re-awaken’ the Wonder, Mystery and Entropy Trees and simultaneously ‘dim’ the Wisdom Tree, which in this case consists of the entire world repository of Colu’s vast network of data servers and A.I.s. Better get those zip drives ready Vic. How many impossible things can the League do in one day? Let’s find out!

Spoiler alert: The League saves the day – sort of, or maybe not, there are a few spectacular sacrifices along the way. But it’s a proverbial out of the frying pan and into the fire situation. Because now it’s earth’s turn. And with the League uncounted light years away, and all the remaining heroes of earth trapped by Brainiac, inexplicably bound in stasis to earth’s Tree of Wisdom seed, that’s a big, big problem.

I’m not too uptight about the set-up generally. This is comics, there’s a lot of latitude, and as big concepts go this is a good one – I like the space gods and their World Trees. And, of course the Justice League is supposed to save the day, triumphing in the face of the unbelievable through heroism and teamwork.

And there are real strengths in the book besides:

As in last issue the scripting and character portrayals are excellent (even if Starro, Conquerer of Worlds, sounds a little too much like a criminal Don from Queens; even if Gar Logan seems a little bit too at ease teaming up with Deathstroke, of all people).

It was disappointing, and a shame to see, that Francis Manapul couldn’t maintain the pace to complete a full run of the series. Perhaps he’ll return next issue, but in the mean-time artist Riley Rossmo picks up the reins with solid work and Marcus To’s inks are, if anything, better than the previous issues.

And there are genuinely enjoyable plot developments and twists as the action barrels along. We even get to see Oliver Queen live up to a central heroic role, which is always good to see in an epic Justice League story. (Thanks for nothing Amanda Waller. When you gonna learn?)

But in order to make the shift from saving Colu to the finale of issue #4 on Earth, there are necessary stretches in the action that require quite a LOT of acceptance.

Frankly, I found myself raising my eyebrows just a few too many times for my taste. I won’t give away the specifics of what that entails. I’ll leave that to each reader to experience, and I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you’re happy to play along. Maybe what it involves won’t bother many of you. But if it does… well, anyway, you’re not alone.

I’ll end though, by saying this. A lot of what goes down is reminiscent of the halcyon days of early superhero comics where the purely unbelievable or absurd were much more commonplace – things like Superman pushing the moon out of orbit as a matter of course, or Wonder Woman owning an invisible jet for some reason, or a small boy stumbling into the greatest combined power of six gods in an old movie theater. (Where is Shazam anyway?)

I grant you, that all this is not really all that far removed from the stock and trade wonder stories of modern comics. And maybe the uber-retro is what modern readers really want from today’s comics. I’m won’t even say it can’t work. Grant Morrison did it with style in All-Star Superman.

Come to think of it, I seem to recall a mock-up of a newly christened Hall of Doom floating around out there recently. So maybe that’s just what DC is going for now. Maybe that’ll work.

I guess we’ll see. ‘Cause that’s what we’ve got.

Maybe just roll with it.

Writer Joshua Williamson
Art & Cover: Howard Porter

Flash War is here and the Rogues have been sent back in time to bring Wally back to the 25th century!

The Prelude to Flash War was in Flash Annual #1 which illustrated that post-Flashpoint, Wally has been a man out of time. He is plagued by his old life in Keystone City and violent memories of an unknown world to him. There are many Flashes in the current continuity, Original Recipe Barry Allen, The Wally West of Flash War and young Kid Flash Wallace Flash.

Flash War seems to want to resolve the anachronism of Wally being tortured by his past, but a jump forward in time might make things more difficult for the Speedster.

Hunter Zolomon plays the part of Zoom in this twisted tale.

On our Earth, Barry and Wally are bonding over the confusing state of affairs.

In the last issue, Wally sees The Flash Museum, but when Barry snaps him out of his projection, they see that there is no Flash Museum there…yet.

When the two Flashes return from a therapeutic run together to Iris’ garage they are thwarted by the 25th Century Reverse Flash Task Force with Commander Cold, Golden Guardian and more Rogues. Turns out, future Golden Guardian is a Yellow Lantern as the Rogues fight Team Flash! Wally and team are eventually transported back into the future to face trial in the Temporal Courts.

There is a reveal at the end that teases that this is all a ruse to get Wally back to the future but not for the reasons we think! Zoom has other plans, but are his plans all that sinister?

Joshua Williamson’s run on The Flash is impressive, and since Rebirth, aligns nicely in the DCU as nicely as it can appeal to fans of the TV show. The characters are more traditional DC but one thing consistent is the use of multiple versions of Flash, Zoom and others.

Flash War is off to a great start! You might be lost if picking up this issue, the Annual and the last few issues since around issue #40 are a good place to pick up from.

Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Evan “Doc” Shaner 
Published by DC Comics

“Mr. T… are you really telling me that this oversized baseball we’re in can travel faster than light?”

“Please Rex, do you really think I would bother to build a T-Sphere that couldn’t?”

They’re back! The terrifically tympanic Terrifics! (Drum roll please.)

Now in newly minted color-coordinated uniforms! Okay, so, more like black-and-white-coordinated.

Really? Couldn’t punch-up the red a little more, just for Plastic Man’s sake?

*sigh*

Anyway, they’re stuck together, so now they roll together.

Or anyway they travel by giant T-sphere together.

This week, our inadvertent, intrepid team of adventurers are off on a rollicking space adventure!

That didn’t take long.

Helps I guess to have the unknown, new, (and very Legion of Superheroes-esque) heroine of the team be from another planet. At least she’s styling her hair more like an Earther girl now. Sure is nice to have Mr. Terrific unclench enough to agree to the jaunt. Guess he’s really just a softy at heart. Sure was a quick shift from Mr. Self-Involvement though. Wonder if that’s normal, or if something else is at play here? But, I mean after all, it’ll only be a several hour interstellar flight. And it has been ten long years since Phantom Girl has even seen her parents.

Or has it?!?

There isn’t all that much to this issue. No big baddies. No major plot developments. No foreshadows of an ominous world-dangerous threat lurking in the wings. Other than Simon Stagg probably. Because Stagg is a jerk. But it is a good backstory filler that gives writer Jeff Lemire a chance to start laying down some necessary team building dynamics – in a far less than ordinary environment of course. And that’s good. The Fantastic Four did that all the time. And something like this is needed after three issues of zany, off-the-wall, no-time-to-breathe team origin escapades. I guess. I like all the zany, off-the-wall, no-time-to-breathe escapades personally. Not that there’s no action in this issue mind you. There’s that giant alien tentacled space-thing.

Lemire’s clearly a big believer in the idea that all true artists are world-class thieves. So it’s fun to see echoes of everything from the FF, to the X-Men, to the Legion, to Doc Smith’s Skylark series, to Star Wars, all interwoven through the mix.

Well OK, maybe more than an echo of Star Wars. More like… an homage maybe? We’ll go with that. (Might as well just lift the actual Han Solo line while you’re at it though, Jeff.)

One of Lemire’s great talents is his facility with the human touch. So, it’s no surprise he’s finding his way into that rather quickly. I’d be happier if the set-up and the sub-textual expectations of the book didn’t make it feel quite as formulaic, but I trust that once we’re past the initial phases of this, he’ll be doing more than the basic building blocks of better team bonding.

I hope so. Much as I love Plas, he’s still feeling a bit too much like the odd-joker out. It’s already difficult enough having two mega-ectomorphs bumping up against each other constantly on the same team. So far though Plastic Man’s comic relief schtick still seems better suited to a larger team.

The obvious solution: a little less Plas, a little more Eel O’Brien. But, I mean, good luck with that. I have faith though! Given time, Lemire can work wonders with the strangest of characters. Let’s just hope he gets it.

This month we have yet a fourth artist on the book. I hope they settle down and pick someone to be the regular for the series soon, ideally someone who can really capture the full scope of Lemire’s kinetic imagination. It’s already a disservice to the inherently scatterbrained style of the plotting on this book to have a constantly changing sequence of artists. Not the best way to go. Much better to have a clear stylistic through-line, seems to me.

This month it’s “Doc” Shaner on pencils. He’s ok. Nothing particularly exciting. But solid enough I suppose. At least Metamorpho doesn’t look so much like a ghoulish freakshow in every panel. Which is probably why he got the gig.

Can’t fault any opportunity to show off Plastic Man as a giant goggled octopus though!

Plas On! Terrifics Forever! (It’s Chromium time?) They’ll figure it out.

Next month: Who knows!

Produced by John Landolfi, Mark H. Young
Written by Mark H. Young, Adam Frazier
Directed by Mark H. Young
Starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Lew Temple,
Olivia Luccardi, Renee Olstead, Brock Kelly,
Landry Allbright, George Finn

A group of medical students and mates hikes into the woods to begin a camping trip. After setting up camp for the night, the gang chills by the campfire where we learn about the dynamics of the group.

Alice (Taylor-Compton) has decided she wants to become an epidemiologist. She’s also come out as a lesbian, and has brought along her girlfriend, Jules (Luccardi), much to the chagrin of her male friend, who still carries a torch for Alice.

Other complications are introduced as well (in an admirably compact opening), before our friends learn they’re not alone in these woods…

The trailer for Feral seems to promise a cross between a standard-issue cabin in the woods slasher and The Descent, and that’s pretty much what you get here (hey, points for truth in advertising).

Unfortunately, you don’t get much more than that, as Feral is rather cliched and unoriginal, right down to the creatures themselves.

The introduction of the first creature is well-staged and genuinely creepy and frightening, but their design is so similar to The Descent beasts that their power dissipates a bit as the film goes along.

That, along with some alarmingly bad choices by many of the characters and barely believable motivations, really work against the film.

There are also some missed opportunities: having our heroine be a budding epidemiologist who’s coincidentally facing an undocumented virus is incredibly contrived but would be more forgivable if said heroine actually used her skills and knowledge in an interesting way. Minor spoiler: she doesn’t.

Still, this has some very effective moments. Most of the attacks are visceral and REALLY bloody, and Taylor-Compton and Lew Temple (as the owner of the stereotypical mountain abode) give solid performances (the rest of the cast is variable).

No real spoilers, but the ending is indicative of the “good movie/weak movie” dichotomy in Feral. After a satisfactorily emotional climax, co-writer/director Mark H. Young can’t resist throwing in a totally unnecessary, genuinely annoying “stinger” before the end credits. Boo…..

Feral is not bad overall, but it ain’t gonna make your day, either.

Feral arrives today in select theaters, On Demand and Digital HD.

Produced by Ian Cheney,
Lindsay Blatt, Xavier Aaronson
Directed by Ian Cheney
Featuring Jennifer Macalady, Davide D’Angelo,
Axel Cleeremans, Luke McKay, Rachel M. Smith,
Erik Cordes, Victoria Orphan, Jun Ye,
Anil Seth, Laurie R. Santos

A circular documentary about 9 cross disciplinary scientists nerding out with each other in cool and exotic laboratories and locations?

Yes, please.

This interesting an innovative film takes us on a journey that starts and ends in a cave with a biologist.

The biologist talks with a physicist. The physicist visits a psychologist. The psychologist hangs out with an astro-biologist. The astro-biologist checks in with an astro-physicist…

…The astro-physicist swaps stories with a geo-biologist. The geo-biologist checks out the experiments a physicist is doing…

…The physicist learns about the brain with a neuro-scientist. The neuro-scientist hangs out with some monkeys and a cognitive psychologist…

…Last but not least, the cognitive psychologist winds up in a cave with the biologist.

By the end I needed a nap. I watched about 2000 IQ points in action. It was a lot to take in.

To really enjoy a science documentary you don’t necessarily have to be science literate, but you must have the one trait that drives all human discovery, curiosity.

Every scientist in the documentary is genuinely curious and that curiosity drives them to learn, to observe, to experiment, to fail and to start all over again. Curiosity has brought us to where we are today scientifically and our ability to discover is increasing exponentially. If you read Ray Kurzweil’s, The Singularity is Near, he addresses exponential growth in innovation.

The overarching theme for each of the scientists is the unknown, unsurprising based on the film’s title, but fascinating still. Little quotes throughout the documentary punctuate the desire for discovery, the passionate curiosity and the abject wonder this special group of people bring to the world.

“We are on the verge of something, but we don’t know what”

It’s likely that 30 trillion species on Earth evolved from a common ancestor, but if they are wrong, the biologist can’t even conceive of where to look for the second primary ancestor. That is science in a snapshot. We think we are right, but if the tests tell us we are wrong we have to start all over again. It is humility in the face of data and something everyone needs to pay attention to. Facts are facts, whether you like them or not.

“Science is a journey.”

“We are studying the essence of consciousness”

“Are we alone? Studying microbes in hot springs sets the boundaries for life on Earth.”

“We are studying origin questions of how we got here”

“We are seeing what no one else has seen on the sea floor”

“The brain has no time sensor” – SIDEBAR – My first reaction to this statement was that means all time is relative. Blindsided by Einstein on a Thursday night. BOOM!

“Discovery is an uncertain process.”

It was at this point we get to the cognitive psychologist, the brilliant Laurie Santos, who I have been smitten with since her TED Talk in 2010. She starts her segment playing Pokemon Go on the dock of the monkey island where she conducts her research and during her segment absolutely blows up all human perception around watching films. She says the science of movie watching tells us humans only perceive movies in two ways. What happens at the peak of the film and how does it end? So for all the aspiring film makers out there, keep this in mind.

There is so much to enjoy here if you like and appreciate science. If you don’t, definitely pass. You will be bored and confused. However, if you do like science, I highly recommend this film. The camera work and visuals are stunning, from the shots of the night sky to the violent beauty of the hot springs we are treated with one magnificent visual after another as the scientists take us on a journey of fundamental questions of existence, evolution, cognition and curiosity.

Also, Laurie Santos.

4.5 out of 5 stars

This time on Forces of Geek Presents OH NO THEY DIDN’T!, the podcast about remakes, sequels and reboots, Todd, Archie and T.J. wax on and on about the new YouTube Red original series Cobra Kai, a follow up 34 years after the beloved 80s classic The Karate Kid!

Does it sweep the leg or deliver a crane kick to the face?

Will we give No Mercy to the ambitious series?

Trust quality of what you know, not quantity.

That said, you can also check out ALL of our past episodes over at our website ONTDpodcast.com

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, Google Play or your favorite podcast provider, and rate us highly if you like us.

To keep up with news about sequels and remakes, or just hear us rant between episodes, we’re also on Twitter at @ONTDPodcast

One more thing, please tell your friends, and especially your enemies, about the show.

Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, Hotel Artemis is an original, high-octane action-thriller starring Jodie Foster as The Nurse, who runs a secret, members-only hospital for criminals. Jodie Foster is joined by an all-star cast that includes Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, and Dave Bautista.

For your chance to win passes to the advance screening of HOTEL ARTEMIS
on Wednesday, June 6^th at 7:00 PM at the AMC Boston Common, click HERE.

Remember seating is first come, first served and not guaranteed so arrive early!

Written by Peter J. Tomato
Illustrated by Carlo Barberi
and Brent Peeples
Published by DC Comics

This is the second part of a two parter where the Super Sons have to save the world and the Justice League themselves from Kid Amazo. It’s also the final issue of the series!

Though not to worry, there will be a new Super Sons title in August.

So how is it?

Well, it starts off great with a cool Jorge Jimenez cover. Then, we delve into the issue. An older man is telling this story of the Super Sons to his grandkids. It’s a nice framing device that is used well.

Then, we flash back. We get to see Kid Amazo and the Super Sons in their conflict. And it’s a good time.

The book is about Jon and Damian working as a team. And these two characters couldn’t be any more opposite.

Yet, Tomasi makes them work together and work well. The dialogue is snappy and the book really moves well.

The conclusion is what you would expect. It’s nothing Earth shattering or groundbreaking. But it is entertaining at the very least. I will say, there are some seeds that were planted in issue number one that come full circle here. It’s impressive to see Tomasi had a plan all along.

The art is decent by Barberi and Peeples though I feel we have seen better on this title. Still, it’s well paced and holds your interest.

This has been a nice little run for Superboy and the Damian Wayne Robin. They seemed an unlikely pairing to star in a title. Yet, good writing and fine characterizations prevailed. I’ll be reading the new series come August.

RATING: B+

Celebrating female filmmakers who share their unique vision of horror, sci-fi and fantasy, the Etheria Film Festival returns to the Los Angeles for a fifth time with a healthy dose of evil doctors, haunted houses, Shakespeare gone awry and the dark side of the arts.

“This year story is what mattered most…all of our 2018 filmmakers have great vision and are genuine artists.” says Etheria programmer Heidi Honeycutt.

This year, in addition to the short schedule, the fest will honor filmmaker Rachel Talalay with the 2018 Inspiration Award. Known for her contributions to the genre filmmaking with films such as Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Tank Girl, Ghost in the Machine, Talalay will be presented the award by Tank Girl herself, Lori Petty.

Teaming with American Cinematheque, the Etheria Film Festival has spent the last five years giving female filmmakers of genre pics a voice in the industry. With it’s entries and honorees, the fest has honored women who work behind the camera, as well as those who give them a chance to shine.

The Films

Laboratory Conditions (Jocelyn Stamat)
Science Fiction/Horror – USA

A physician investigating a missing body disrupts an unlawful experiment.

Lady M (Tammy Riley Smith)
Fantasy – UK

Ageing actress Margot Collins played Lady Macbeth to great acclaiming her youth. Now in her fifties, she is offered the role of one of the witches. But one should never underestimate the spirit of the play to conjure black magic, to summon mishaps and mischief, nor the power of a formidable older woman to get what she wants.

Bride of Frankie (Devi Snively)
Horror/Comedy – USA

In this feminist nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a not-so-mad scientist builds a mate for her mentor’s lonely creature with electrifying, and deadly, results.

Creswick (Natalie James)
Horror – Australia

Sam’s fear of her childhood home is brought to light when her ageing father claims there is another presence in the house.

Skin Deep (Elizabeth Serra)
Dark Comedy – USA

Sisters Karen and Vivian are 1960s housewives. Under their sophisticated veneer lurks seething hatred. Both women strive for dominance in an epic battle for sibling supremacy.

Instinct (Maria Arida)
Horror – USA

A psycho-sexual thriller about Isabelle, a lonely gallery owner who meets a dangerously seductive performance artist and discovers they have more in common than expected. Will Isabelle allow herself to let Camila in without giving in to her true nature?

Ovum (Cidney Hue)
Science Fiction – USA

A woman must make a hard choice after a mind bending procedure.

The Drop In (Naledi Jackson)
Action/Thriller – USA/Canada

A hairdresser has a challenging day when a mysterious visitor from her past arrives for a drop in appointment.

The Agency (Macarena Montero)
Science Fiction – UK

The Agency is the best place to purchase a husband, and Mrs. Hold thought it would be fun to head down and get a new one today.

C U Later Tuesday (Anca Vlasan)
Dark Comedy – USA

This year’s cutest romantic comedy is all about finding love in unexpected basements.

The Etheria Film Festival is slated for June 16, 2018.

Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Jose Luis
Published by DC Comics

This is good stupid fun. Batman and Deadshot have basically teamed up for this issue and it’s a hoot. Rob Williams finally relaxes a little and the results are a fun book. I laughed a few times.

Batman and Deadshot are on the trail to find Deadshot’s daughter!

Deadshot isn’t very happy about the fact that she is missing and Batman isn’t very happy in general.

The opening sequence is great. The duo arrive in Texas and they immediately are beating the hell out of a villain.

The villain says, “you guys don’t come down here.”

Batman says, “we’re on vacation,” taking out the thug.

Deadshot retorts, “lucky you.”

I laughed out loud at this. This was a great opener to this tale.

Then, the duo get into a fight looking for information. Williams keeps it lively here, and as a result my interest was high. The ensuing fight was very well choreographed by Luis.

Of course, Batman and Deadshot don’t agree on killing their foes. So, then begins the obvious fight we have heard a hundred times. Batman stops Deadshot from killing someone and we are left to a familiar conversation that Batman only has about 3000 times a year.

After that, Waller sends the rest of Task Force X after the duo. They follow the path of destruction. Batman and Deadshot have some philosophical debates until they meet a big serpent like foe in the cliffhanger. It’s not mind blowing but it’ll do.

Like I said earlier, Williams has a good time even though his writing is a bit tired for this title. I think he does his best on the action parts. The character development parts? Not so much.

The art by Luis is the best part. He gets the action down nice and he can make anything seem believable. He adds a flair to the book we haven’t seen before.

All in all, it’s a pretty decent issue. Not as good as it can be, but it’s certainly better than where we have been.

RATING: B

Written by Dan Jurgens
Illustrated by Marco Castiello
Published by DC Comics

This is the beginning of a brand new storyline called Batman: Target.

This is a nice place for new readers to pick up. Jurgens is doing something really cool with this book which I wasn’t expecting. He is introducing a Beyond version of Robin. And that’s just plain awesome.

The future Robin’s real name is Matt and he’s Terry’s brother. He’s been well developed by Jurgens and is a new type of Robin we haven’t seen before. He’s a little less dark and less angsty than recent Robin efforts.

That being said, the conflict with Batman and Robin is pretty much the same as evidenced later in the issue.

They go up against some Jokerz villains. Robin doesn’t listen to Batman. And so we get the usual scene where Batman scolds Robin for not listening to him. It all seems very familiar and eye rolling.

What is different is that Bruce and Terry are fighting at what’s best for Matt. The ironic twist is that Bruce is all for Matt going out in the field and Terry is against it.

It makes for a nice change from how things usually go. Terry doesn’t want his brother out there and their opinions and philosophies are the heart of this book.

The Jokerz are also committing more violent crimes. They are upping the ante so to speak. And that’s part of the mystery that needs to be solved.

The story is well done. The art compliments it fairly well. It’s not as showy as some of the past artists but that’s perfectly fine.

All in all, this is a decent first part of the newest storyline. I’m excited to see where it goes.

Right now, this is very enjoyable and a good read overall.

RATING: B+

Growing up at the movies, I could always spot the serious cinema buffs at the theater because they’re the ones who stayed all the way through a film’s end credits. From a young age, I have been one of them.

The ritual of staying through a movie’s final frame is common among film scholars and routine within members of the motion picture industry, who habitually search for names of friends and family listed among the scrolling credits, and/or search for jokes hidden in the credits á la Monty Python or the Zucker Brothers.

Today, anyone who’s seen more than one of the nearly twenty movies in the expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to expect that any new MCU movie will be punctuated by at least one extra scene at the conclusion of—or in the middle of—the end credits scroll. Sometimes there are two extra scenes. The bonus Marvel after-movie scene, or “stinger,” is an after-party of sorts for patrons willing to stick around the theater through the oftentimes lengthy credits sequence. To this end, the enticing lure of the extra scene ought to be celebrated for helping to keep alive the communal aspect of viewing and discussing movies with other fans in the moment.

I prefer to stay through the end credits—at the very least, for movies I enjoy—because those extra few minutes are the ideal time to indulge in the essential mental percolation of recapping the film in my head while the exit music plays out.

This time of contemplation is also convenient for engaging in momentary social interaction with other movie patrons who likewise stick around through the credits, hoping to glimpse a bonus scene we’ve all been conditioned by Marvel to expect.

Born in the eighties with such comedies such as Airplane!, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, the surprise stinger is something Marvel has made their own and has been using to great effect since the birth of their Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, when their movies Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk teased The Avengers four years in advance of that movie’s arrival.

It’s not merely the legit MCU movies that offer bonus scenes, but also installments of other Marvel series owned by other studios, such as X-Men and Deadpool. Heck, even competitor DC finally got into the act last year with a double stinger at the end of Justice League.

I did not clock it, but I’ll wager the end credits scroll for Avengers: Infinity War runs close to eleven minutes. If this isn’t a record-setter for longest and most densely populated end-credits sequence in a movie, it surely comes close. Still, loyal fans stuck around for the extra tidbit. And—wow!—what a game-changing and universe-shifting Easter egg Marvel just laid at the close of Infinity War that teases multiple future MCU installments. I was glad to see I wasn’t alone in the theater when that stinger played, and heartened to hear the audience was audibly engaged.

As far as extra scenes go, anything will suffice—an extra punchline to a running joke, an alternate take of a memorable scene, a bit of deleted footage incongruous with the rest of the movie, or perhaps a tantalizing tease for a future chapter—but only in the case of Logan would the absence of a tasty finishing stinger feel like anything other than a let-down nowadays. (In the case of the solemn Logan, any jokey stinger would have undercut the gravitas of the film, and the producers wisely opted against having one.)

While theater ushers and custodians sweep up the spilled popcorn and candy wrappers, we pure movie geeks linger in the auditorium through the lengthy end credits because we have been willingly baited by the promise of being privy to additional material those early exiting audiences will not glean. They’ll read about it online, perhaps kick themselves for missing out, and possibly even plan a repeat viewing of the movie—if not while it is still playing in theaters then at least when the film arrives on home video in a scant few months.

But no matter the movie’s opening weekend gross, no matter the buzz wattage of its spoilers or the percentage score of its critical aggregate, everybody always talks about the latest Marvel end-credits stinger. And because Marvel has made an industry of the special bonus stinger, the fellowship of movie-lovers who view movies in movie theaters is afforded multiple recurring opportunities to engage in a vital element of cinema that home video and streaming viewers inherently miss out on: the communal movie-going experience. In turn for receiving these tiny love letters by filmmakers to fans, we show our patronage by viewing their movies in a theater, on as big a screen as possible and during opening weekend whenever feasible.

And, hopefully, while waiting out the protracted credits in anticipation of the bonus stinger, we’re striking up a conversation with a neighboring movie geek similarly lingering around to catch that extra moment, that final cherry on top of the film.

We keep hearing doomsday threats about how the act of physically going to the movies is a steadily declining culture, but even accounting for technically glitchy and/or less-than-spotless theaters populated by far-from-courteous patrons, there is no substitute for experiencing a movie in a giant hall with an enthusiastic audience. An event movie, especially.

To this end, Marvel’s practice of rewarding its fans with playful stingers deserves a lot of industry cred for making a movie’s end-credits essential community viewing. Anything that keeps people coming to the movies and sticking around to the very end—and, better yet, anything that keeps audiences engaged and that facilitates further social engagement—is a good thing in my universe.

Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Lan Medina
Published by DC Comics

I haven’t been keeping up on this series so I decided to read the first three issues leading up to this.

And why not? Abnett is a capable writer and Lan Medina is an excellent artist. How bad can it be?

Well, it’s not exactly good or bad.

For me?

It’s just kind of there.

I think the biggest problem I had in the book is that Abnett doesn’t really know how to make Mera interesting. In the first few issues leading up to this, Mera didn’t really drive the action. Other characters did. This issue is the one where she actually does something.

Mera is fighting for the soul of Atlantis. She needs allies. So, she goes to her ex-husband, Nereus, who is also the King of Xebel! This scene has a little bit more of spark to it than the rest of the book. Nereus has a saucy personality so it makes it interesting.

He also may not be trustworthy. But honestly, that’s about as interesting as the book gets.

Abnett does an okay job on the story here but it doesn’t exactly thrill like one would hope.

The art by Lan Medina is lush and beautiful to behold. Medina’s last work on the Deadman series was gorgeous. While this is a different style than that, it is still beautiful to look at nonetheless.

I just wish it had more behind it story-wise because right now it’s pretty empty.

RATING: C

Biologist and former soldier Lena (Academy Award winner Natalie Portman) is shocked when her missing husband (Oscar Isaac) comes home near death from a top-secret mission into The Shimmer, a mysterious quarantine zone no one has ever returned from. Now, Lena and her elite team must enter a beautiful, deadly world of mutated landscapes and creatures, to discover how to stop the growing phenomenon that threatens all life on Earth.  The film also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Tuva Novotny.

And we’re giving away a copy of the Best Buy exclusive 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack!

To enter, send an email with the subject header “Annihilation” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following question:

Who wrote the book, Annihilation, on which the film was based?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on June 10th, 2018.

Written by Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Davide Fabbri
Published by DC Comics

Oh, how the wicked have fallen.

Hellblazer used to be my favorite comic book. It was where top notch talent cut their teeth and honed their skills. It was a place of creativity! Horror! Powerful, evocative stories!

So, that’s why I’m so put off by this title as it presently stands.

It’s a toothless redo of something that didn’t need to change. John Constantine is a great character who hasn’t been used right in pretty much forever at this point.

In this issue, which is part four of a story called “The Good Old Days,” John is reunited with an ex girlfriend! And she’s possessed by a demon.

I stopped caring about page eight of this comic. Constantine has become a guest star in his own book. He barely does anything. Except look neutered.

Seeley doesn’t have a handle on the character so this falls short. I was bored until the “cliffhanger.”

Constantine doesn’t act like my Constantine that I love here. It’s like he’s been possessed too. And by a boring person.

The art is pretty good, but it doesn’t fit this title at all. I understand DC trying new things to get more interest in a character, but it doesn’t work. Again, Fabbri isn’t a bad artist, it just isn’t the right thing for this character.
I was bored and tuned out.

I have very strong feelings on how a Hellblazer comic should work. That’s just my genetic make up and others may like this book as it is now. I just don’t see how they could.

RATING: D

You might know the name Chris Roberson from one of his novels or short stories.  Or perhaps you recognize it from his publishing venture, MonkeyBrain books.  You might even know it from his comic book work for such publishers as Dark Horse, DC Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, IDW or BOOM! Studios.  Or you might even recognize it from the co-creator credit on the CW series, iZombie.

In other words, the man gets around.

His latest project is a return to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Universe, writing the new mini-series, Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven with Mignola and featuring art by D’Israeli.  In the new story, “A series of occult events mystifies the man known as the Witchfinder, but even more surprising is the revelation that he is not alone in exploring the paranormal in London. When a personal invitation arrives from the palace, Sir Edward Grey is pulled even deeper into underground supernatural exploration alongside new allies in the race to stop a mad scientist from destroying London in his pursuit of mystical power.”

Chris took some time from his very busy schedule to discuss the appeal of Witchfinder, Hellboy’s Great Uncle Simon and the appeal of writing comics.

*  *  *  *  *

FOG!: Sir Edward Grey serves as Queen Victoria’s paranormal investigator in 19th century England and has appeared as a background character, initially in Hellboy before receiving his own solo adventures. You wrote that Grey is your favorite Mignolaverse character and the comic featured everything that you were obsessed with. What do you love about the Witchfinder and his world?

Chris Roberson: I was intrigued from the very beginning when the character was mentioned briefly in the first issue of Hellboy: Wake the Devil, but when we got a fuller introduction to him in Witchfinder: In The Service of Angels, I was hooked. I’ve always been a fan of the Victorian era, because in many ways Victorian England is the beginning of the modern age, or at least the most recent historical era that is very recognizable to a modern reader.

Many of the genres we’re familiar with today in popular entertainment had their origins in that era, and people in Victorian times dealt with issues like expanding roles for women to the tension between innovation and tradition that still resonate with us today. But it’s still far enough removed from us that there’s a lot of creative potential in taking a story idea that might seem somewhat ordinary in a modern context, and seeing what new twists are possible when setting it in the Victorian era.

And as a fan of Victorian-era detective stories, and especially Victorian-era occult detectives, in many ways it felt like the Witchfinder stories were being made specifically for me to enjoy. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one to respond positively, and now some years later I’m in the enviable position of getting to help tell new Witchfinder stories.

The new mini-series, Gates of Heaven is your second time writing the character. Is the experience different now that you’ve tackled the character and his world before?

It’s a little different tackling him the second time around, in part because I’ve written a number of other historical period pieces set in Hellboy’s world in the meantime (Hellboy And The B.P.R.D., Rise of the Black Flame, Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon, etc.), and so there was even more potential to introduce connections between Sir Edward’s Victorian era and the rest of Hellboy’s world this time around. And considering that the first three Witchfinder series were all scripted by different teams, this will be the first time that the same writers handle two Witchfinder series in a row, and so there was the opportunity here to really establish a tone and a status quo that we can mix up and play with going forward.

How did D’Israeli come on board as artist?

From the earliest discussions about the ideas that eventually developed into The Gates of Heaven, we knew that (a) the story would be set in Victorian London and (b) that there would be a steampunk-tech aspect to it. And D’Israeli was the first name I suggested to Mike when we started talking about who might handle the art duties, as I knew that there was no one better equipped to handle that setting and era while also suited to tackle the steampunk vibe we were going for.

And thankfully I was right, as the pages have turned out looking amazing!

Having not read previous Witchfinder arcs, the first two issues of this series seemed to have a lot of word building with both The Foundry and the Heliopic Brotherhood of Ra. Was that one of your goals?

Each volume of Witchfinder is designed to be stand-alone, so that it can be picked up and enjoyed by anyone who hasn’t read any of the previous stories, and so we take pains to introduce any concepts or characters in a way that new readers can approach.

At the same time, though, we are always looking for ways to expand that breadth and depth of Hellboy’s world, and introducing new characters and concepts to fit in alongside the established stuff. So in The Gates of Heaven we are reacquainting readers with some of the previously introduced Victorian-era stuff while also bringing in some new stuff, often with connections to the larger Hellboy world.

And definitely, one of the things that we hoped to accomplish with The Gates of Heaven was to get across the idea that there is a lot more going on in Sir Edward’s era than he previously suspected.

In the first issue, we meet the British Paranormal Society and its members including Simon Bruttenholm. Is he the father of Trevor? Was this your idea or Mike’s to introduce him?

Simon Bruttenholm is actually the uncle to Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, the man who raised Hellboy. Trevor’s uncle has been mentioned a few times over the years (in the pages of Hellboy: The Companion, for example, and in a conversation between Trevor and the exorcist Ota Benga in B.P.R.D.: 1947), but aside from a glimpse in a black and white photo he was not seen in person until Rasputin: Voice of the Dragon, which is set in the early days of WWII, where he was named for the first time. It had been established that Trevor’s uncle had known Sir Edward Grey, but it was my suggestion that we could show their first meeting in The Gates of Heaven.

As both an author and publisher of prose before working in comics, what about the medium do you find so satisfying?

As a writer it’s nice to work in a visual medium, where things can be communicated through the art that might be difficult to tackle through words alone. But more than that I like the collaborative aspect of working in comics. Writing prose, I’m responsible for everything that is down on the page, and if it succeeds or fails it’s all down to me. But in comics, I’m only one of a group of collaborators, and I’m fortunate enough to work with some of the most talented artists in the industry, who can take my humble words and turn them into something much better than I’d be able to accomplish on my own.

What else do you have coming up?

In addition to various miniseries set in the world of Hellboy, I’m doing another work-for-hire comic gig that hasn’t been announced yet but which is really cool, and in my free time I’m working on a YA prose novel.

What are you currently geeking out over?

In terms of comics, these days I’m reading a lot of All Ages and YA original graphic novels (I’ve recently enjoyed Vera Brosgol’s Be Pepared, Molly Ostertag’s The Witch Boy, and Jen Wang’s The Prince and the Dressmaker), but I recently finished rereading all of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s The Sixth Gun, and eagerly await each new issue of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s The Wicked + The Divine, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s Astro City, and Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang’s Paper Girls.

In terms of movies, I’m still reeling from Avengers: Infinity War and looking forward to watching Solo in theaters in a few days. The TV shows that have been occupying my attention lately include Legion, Westworld, Atlanta, and Barry. In my downtime I’ve been rereading all of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld (I’m thirty books in and only have eleven to go), rewatching all of the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, and my musical obsessions of the moment are The Regrettes and Jay Som.

Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven #1 is available now
in comic book stores and via digital.

Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Viktor Bogdanovic
Published by DC Comics

This book started off pretty good for the first three issues. It had good art by John Romita Jr. and a fairly decent storyline. Then Viktor Bogdanovic got assigned to this book. He’s one of the best artists to really make a breakthrough since Rebirth started up; he’s been around for awhile but really broke through in the last two years. His art is worth sticking around for.

The first line of the book killed me. It has Deathstroke holding a gun to The Silencer.

And what does she do?

She insults him. I laughed out loud at her line and it was a great setup to the rest of the book.

Right after that and we get down plot underway, the two end up in a tussle.

Leave it to Bogdanovic to draw an incredible fight scene that makes you sit up. It also helps that Abnett has such a great handle on all of the characters in this book, including Deathstroke.

So, through all of this we learn more about The Silencer’s mysterious past. There are some twists and turns as she finds herself on the run for the majority of the issue. At the end, there is a reveal from Talia al Ghul that sets the whole thing in a spin. It leaves us on a cliffhanger which was actually pretty good.

All in all, this isn’t bad. It’s tough to create a new character you care about but Abnett makes it look easy. There’s a lot of good writing here and artwork. I’ll continue to read this title and see it where it goes as it’s intrigued me enough.

RATING: B+

Written by Jody Houser
Illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa
Published by DC Comics

This is fantastically inventive book that will be ending soon. That’s very sad because it’s a cool alternative story that Jody Houser has written. This issue in particular is one of the strangest and darkest comic books I have read in quite some time.

Mother Panic makes her way through Arkham Institute. We have been through the Arkham Asylum before.

But this place is nothing like that.

In Houser’s and Moustafa’s capable hands it feels like the most horrifying place you can imagine. She gets led into the asylum almost like Alice descending into Wonderland.

A Wonderland rife with hell that is. The visuals by Moustafa are so perfect and intense for this.

The sequences leading into the asylum are just incredible.

And then we actually get into the institute and it’s bedlam.

A very exciting bedlam.

Violet Paige has to try to break her mother out of this crazy place. The battle to try to do this takes up the bulk of the issue.

Houser keeps it smart, but also very exciting on the writing front. It’s psychological and brutal in the best sense.

The art tells the story beautifully. Moustafa is the artist this title always needed. The visuals are the best it’s ever been.

This is an excellent book that will be going away. I hope it gets revived on some form or another.

RATING: B+