The Unholy Dragon

I could have gone for it skipping to the part where Willow and Xander were already friends with Buffy but changes like Willow already having her college onward confidence, Anya being around already, and the first big bad reveal have me interested.

I cannot believe Tom King dug up the Protector for a random super serious appearance in Heroes in Crisis. Ridiculous in a good way.

One of the things I find really interesting about the Us trailer, following Get Out, is that Peele seems to be really emphasizing the experience of black culture interacting with white folks in America. The trailer has a family going to vacation in a rich looking cabin with what looks to be all rich white friends (their buddy got a boat) and I feel like the idea of 'other' selves could play off that. Especially since, while they say the other family is trying to kill them, the trailer has multiple instances where they could and don't. Admittedly I'm a white as hell Canadian so feel free to correct me, but this seems to lay plenty of groundwork to go as deep or deeper into racial/cultural/identity stuff as Get Out did and I'm hyped to see it then read a shitload of breakdowns after.

Two really good Aquaman details I haven't seen much talk of: 1) The writing creates a reason Arthur can't just call in Clark to roflstomp Atlantis. Sure he could do it but it wouldn't solve the underlying issues and even Superman couldn't stop a full on Atlantean invasion. They really made the problem one only Arthur could fix which I thought worked great. 2) Patrick Wilson delivers a lot of nuance as Orm. Dude is losing it over the fact that by old school Atlantean purity shit he should be the favourite son, yet his advisor, fiancee, and even his mom all clearly favour his brother and that just unravels him further. In a lot of ways he's suffered similarly to Arthur but rather than taking the lessons of those he loves, he lets each loss drive his anger and hate and becomes a worse person for it. A lot of the character stuff in this was really good.

Passes MoS and Suicide Squad. It's at $70m or so behind WW and $120m behind BvS. Domestic it's still at the lowest spot but if the drops keep small it's not inconceivable it becomes the top grossing film in the franchise overall and maybe #2 or 3 domestically. Not bad.

Aquaman has already passed Justice League in worldwide box office totals and is less than $2 million from passing Man of Steel too, making that a pretty sure bet. Wider gap for domestic though it's at around $168 mil there too so pretty impressive all around. Can't see it not getting a sequel and further driving the direction of future DC films.

Bermejo's art is gorgeous though.

So the teasers are for "Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys the Marvel Universe". I'd wager questionably canon oddball series. More interesting is Chip Zdarsky and Mark Bagley on Spider-man: Life Story. A 6 issue mini about what if Spidey aged in real time from 1962 with each issue covering a different decade Generations style.

So uh. That one starts messy because it starts in the Azzarello run in a REALLY messy way that's a huge spoiler if you haven't read it. It's sort of kept around as an offhand thing but never really expanded on. Tynion's Hellblazer series (from the short lived DC You quasi reboot) has a man as the primary love interest though so it's definitely been canon unambiguously for a couple years now.

I mean it'll be five years or so years rather than nine by the end because twice monthly but the point stands.

59. And the quotes are wild. One says it's a trip ala 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I'm increasingly dubious of how many of these HiC deaths are going to stick. Something about it feels hinky. Also the Lagoon Boy portion brings the Titans East special and thus Winnick's Titans run back into continuity.

For anyone who wants a classic all ages friendly self contained fun comic, Marvel Action Spider-man launched this week and it's a LOT of fun. Technically from IDW but you know.

Different universe though. Main universe Uncle Ben stays dead.

Morrison/Final Crisis fans not reading The Unexpected should be or get the trade when it drops. #6 ending spoilers. Steve Orlando is so awesome. EDIT: Further on Orlando being awesome, Electric Warriors #1 is a blast. Further on Morrison stuff, Sideways Annual #1 has Grant doing a guest spot returning to his Seven Soldiers as well as dragging the Blue Jeans Superman back into things for fun. It's a blast and worth the read.

Finally saw Venom and the reports of it being an amazing accidental comedy pan out. My wife and I were both in hysterics over some of the ridiculous action beats and Eddie/Venom interplay. The lobster scene had me in tears. Not a great movie or anything but a great time.

A PG cut, with a portion of funds going to a cancer charity, and new footage involving the kidnapping of Fred Savage for a Princess Bride scene? Yeah, okay they got me.

Probably but whether it materializes before the heat death of the universe is another matter.

I read an advance copy and it was good. Feels like Grant doing Grant in that it references a bunch of old continuity stuff to try and make a character thesis and a lot of stuff seems to be setting up bigger things later while still growing the world. Also it may as well be in its own canon because it doesn't really reflect the broader status quo. It's a lot of fun. I know he's only committed to 12 issues but if he did a Batman length run on this it wouldn't be a bad thing.

So Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have been regularly clowning on Twitter thay their Venom run is better than Watchmen. The end result? A Watchmen #1 tribute cover as a variant...by Dave Gibbons. I'm almost mad at how ridiculously that paid off for them.

They're steady sellers in my shop. Some of the B-List DC characters have definitely outsold their main books with them, honestly.

Thank you for this because I saw the stage play, loved it, and had no idea it was adapted to film. Some of what made it work will be lost (sounds and actions surrounding you via audience plants and such) but it's still got plenty going for it as a narrative.

No real news to speak of, just thinking of recent events and wow it's amazing how much Batman's penis could destabilize an entire company.

Look, I realize I may be the only person in the world who will say this, but I can't express how hyped I am to have the first half or so of Mutant X in trade paperback.

Way better than DK2, not as good as DKR or Last Crusade. It's a lot of fun and the art is great. Really it's closer to a Superman or Justice League story than a Batman one though.