#I’m Naomi’s number 1 fan. if there are no Naomi fans I’m dead

[blowflyfag]

Punk may have won return of the year for the slammys but you all know my true winner.

[pixie88]

My Science Buff

A/N: Those who play Lovelink know Marco Bottazzi. He recently when grey on me, I miss him so decided to do a FF especially for him! He makes it hard not to fall for him while he sets you up with his best friend. This might be a one shot piece or I might continue I’m not sure yet. Let me know if you would like to be tagged or untagged!

Find my other Marco Bottazzi FF HERE on my masterlist under Lovelink - One shots. Along with my Rory Bear & Shopping Trip (Rory O’Brien), Tattoo Artist to Businessman (Blake Bailey) & Photogenic (Dominic Wright) FF. .

Comments always welcome!

Word count: 1649

WARNINGS: ⚠️ MILD NSFW & Fluffy fluff

Disclaimer: Characters are property of Lovelink.

Pairings: Marco X MC - Naomi

Enjoy!

*1 New Message on Lovelink from Marco*

[Hey Naomi, I've broken things off with Sally. She also admitted she has feelings for Taylor. She still loves me but not in the same way she used to. She also said she was forced to realize our spark had disappeared the moment she saw us together]

[Hi handsome, I hope you are ok? Wow, talk about string you along....! So what happens now?]

[*Blushing!* I'm actually........relieved don't get me wrong, I am a little sad 10 years is a long time, but we have been dead in the water for a while it took meeting you to realize that. Now? Sally has moved back to her parents until I find somewhere to live. I was hoping this also means I could take you on a proper date JUST me and you?]

[Just goes to show when you are too close to someone you never really see the situation right in front of you. It always takes an outsider to see what you have become blind to. Sound like you have a plan. A date? Not too soon?]

[Ouch! But I know you are right. Yeah, I can't wait to move on with my life. Too soon? I don't think it is unless you have changed your mind?]

[I am always right, I thought you had figured that out already haha! I haven't changed my mind, I'm just worried it might be too soon for you?]

[I have lol! Definitely not too soon. I want to take you on a date just me and you. A real date please? :( ]

[You are a fast learner haha. OK, how can I say no to a sad face?]

[I am! You can't ;) why don't you come here and I'll teach you how to make Ramen?]

[I'm not comfortable with coming to yours and Sally's place! What if you came here instead?]

[Ok, that's fine. Yeah, I'll grab the ingredients on the way. Are you free tomorrow night?]

[Great, I can't wait! Tomorrow is fine. I get back from work at 5 so shall we say 6 maybe 7?]

[I can't wait either. Awesome I'm excited to see you! Is 7 ok?]

[I am too! 7 is perfect! Do you need me to get anything?]

[Awesome! I'll see you then. Text me your address and no I'll grab everything on the way]

~*~*~*~

The next day I get in from work and go for a shower, I decide on a navy polka dot dress. I leave my hair with wavy curls, I'm just finishing my make up when I hear a knock at the door. I look up at the clock, it only 6.41 pm he's early! I spray myself with perfume and head to the door. I open it, and he stood there with a massive bouquet of flowers.

He's wearing a grey suit and a white unbuttoned shirt, just looking at him gives me butterflies!

"Marco, you didn't have to get those"

"Naomi, I wanted to give you a real romantic date! You look beautiful"

"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself. Come in,"

He smiles, hands me the flowers as we step inside. "You have a gorgeous home Naomi"

"Thanks, the kitchen is this way" I lead him to the kitchen.

We get to the kitchen, he puts the bags on the side and empties the bags.

"So, what do we need to do?" 

"Chop and wash the ingredients first, then stir fry the pork mince," he says.

"Great, let's get started,"

He smiles "I got us some wine too"

"Great, I'm looking forward to this!"

"Me too!" he smirks.

I get to work on chopping while he cooks the pork. We move around the kitchen together. Each time I look over at him, he's already looking at me. My cheeks burn as I blush. I set up the table as he finishes cooking and dishes up.  I grab the wine and a couple of glasses as he takes over the plates.

We take our seats "Dig in" He says.

As soon as I put the first mouthful in, it's like an explosion of flavours in my mouth "Oh my god Marco this is amazing!"

His face lights up "I'm glad you like it"

"Like it? I love it. Please tell me there is more?"

"There is loads more. Probably enough to feed you for a week" He says.

I laugh. After dinner, I start to clean up when his arms come around me and I turn in his arms to face him.

"Hey" He smiles.

"Hi" my heart is racing.

He brushes a strand of hair away from my face, he leans in his face inches from mine. I close the gap crashing my lips to his, the kiss is electrifying my hands' come round to the nape of his neck and his tongue invades my mouth. He pulls me tighter to him as he deepens the kiss, he lifts me onto the counter this kiss becomes more fierce.

His hand starts to run up my thigh and slips under my dress. We can't get enough of each other, he finds my centre and he brushes against me.

"Marco......we should stop"

He pulls away confused. "Marco, don't get me wrong, I want to I really do but I don't want to rush this. I want it to be special"

He smiles "You're right, let's take it slow"

He helps me down off the kitchen counter "Hey, I forgot dessert!" He pulls a tray out of his shopping bag and unwraps the brown paper.

"I hope you like homemade chocolate brownies"

My face light up "Brownies? You made brownies?"

"Yeah, I thought you might like them?"

"You're going to have to fight me for some" I grab the tray and run but he chases after me.

"Hey!! Come back here with those brownies!" He shouts.

I laugh running away from him, I run behind the couch, and he's on the other side.

"NAOMI!" he says with a smirk

I take a brownie from the tray and take a huge bite "Oh wow! These are amazing! They might even be better than sex!"

He laughs "That's probably because you haven't had sex with me yet" he winks and I blush, this distracts me so I don't have time to react when he jumps on and over my couch and grabs me.

"Ahhhh!" I scream as he takes the tray off me "One, that was sneaky and two, no shoes on my couch!"

He laughs, "Sorry, I'll make it up to you by baking you a mountain load of brownies?"

I smirk "Ok, I forgive you!"

"Good, now let's sit down and eat these" he takes my hand and leads me back to the dining table.

"So, have you found a place to stay?" I ask.

"I actually viewed a place 5 minutes away from here before our date"

"Ooo, so we could be neighbors?!"

He laughs, "Yeah, I guess so!"

"Have you spoken to Taylor since the other day?" I ask.

"Nope, he's being awkward with me. He is ignoring my calls at the moment"

"Why? You did what he asked you to do!"

"I don't know. To be honest with you since he told me about his feelings for Sally. I don't feel like I know him anymore. If that makes sense?"

"Perfect sense! Especially since he's kept a secret from you for so long"

He gives me a weak smile "Let's not talk about them. This is our date, not theirs"

I smile, "So as it's our date. Have you seen there is a Science convention at the weekend?"

His face lights up "Yeah, I actually have two tickets for me and Tay...." he cuts himself off.

"So you are going by yourself?" I ask.

"Yeah, I am now," he says.

"Tell me no if you want but if you still have Taylor's ticket I would love to go with you!"

He's beaming "Really? You would come with me?"

I laugh, "Of course! If you invite me that is!"

He smirks "You said you weren't much of a science buff!"

"I might not be but it's something you like, so I want to take an interest in it. You might have to explain a lot to me, but I'm willing to learn if you're willing to teach? Pun intended" I wink.

"Wow, Sally would never com....know what I would love for you to be my date!"

"Ooo I didn't know it would be a date! I'll have to wear a super sexy outfit" I say with a grin.

"Not too sexy you'll give all those nerds a heart attack" he laughs.

A little while later he's leaving.

"Text me when you're home?"

He smiles "Will do! Thanks for tonight Naomi!"

"Thank you for all the amazing food!" He pulls me to him and plants a soft kiss against my lips.

"I'm so looking forward to this weekend!" He says as he pulls away.

"Me too!" I wink.

He walks down the steps and starts walking down the street to his car as he drives past and waves.

20 minutes later I'm getting ready for bed when my phone vibrates.

*1 New Message on Lovelink from Marco*

[Hey, gorgeous! I really enjoyed tonight and I'm home BTW! Also, do you think we could actually exchange numbers now? Rather than talking through a dating app? X]

[Hi handsome, I had a fab night too so thank you. Glad you made it home safe! Mister Bottazzi I never give my number out before I put out ;P So you have 1, 2, or maybe 5 dates before you earn that privilege! ;) Night xx]

[HOLY CRAP! Now that's all I can think about :( X]

[You're welcome! Nighty night xx]

[I'm going for a cold shower. Sweet dreams X]

I’m tagging you because I know your a Lovelink fan lovely @khoicesbyk​

[florafey]

Thoughts While Reading Crescent City - Part 1

I’m telling everyone right now that this is THE best book I have ever read. And I’ve read quite a few books in my menial lifespan. 

This will be multiple parts because the book is 800 pages and for the majority of that I was loosing my mind. Spoilers under the cut, of course. 

- Danika’s hair is dope as shit. I want it. Give it to me. 

- Thank the Lord Sarah finally decided to write an adult book, it’s about time her characters dropped the f-bomb

- Okay so Sabine can suck my ass, good to know

- This is...a lot of information for only thirty pages for I’m so soooo here for the worldbuilding

- The Pack of Devils is the toughest squad name ever and that’s a fact

- I don’t know how to feel about Connor...he seems a little basic...and I know enough to know that he isn’t in the book a lot...

- Sarah said Bryce has a fat ass lmaooo good for her

- Okay Bryce dumping her asshole boyfriend then stealing a bottle of win from the restaurant they were in on her way out is ICON STATUS

- oh shit

- oh no, Bryce, sweetie, oh no, oh no, oh no

- wait fuck okay uhhhhhh they dead well that’s where Connor goes I guess

- Okay Bryce knows how to kick ass in a party dress, no shoes and high out of her mind. I repeat my icon status statement 

- I got goosebumps when I was reading her scream the angel’s phone number because she didn’t know where they were

- Oh HERE’S HUNT HEHEHEHHEHHEHEHEH 

- I thought there was one bad bitch in this house(Bryce). It’s two (Bryce and Hunt). 

- The interaction between Hunt and Ruhn was hysterical despite everything going on around them. Can’t wait to see more of them

- Oh man, the trauma the traaaaaumaaaaaaaa

- Bryce being sassy to the two most powerful individuals in the city is a whole mood. She doesn’t give a shit and she’ll tell them to their faces

- Oh MICAH helloooooooooo heheheheheh

- Oh we love a good murder mystery, I just know Sarah is gonna catch my neck with this one. I mean it’s 800 pages long and they think they know who murdered Danika on page 131? Come on

- BUDDY COP AU BUDDY COP AU BUDDY COP AU

- hm alright so both Bryce and Hunt’s bosses are a little assholey okay something to bond over, it’s a start

- Also, Hunt’s true name being Orion? Power move. I love it. Give it to me. 

- AHAAHAHHHAHAHAHAH waaaaaaaiiitttt how did Hunt Athalar break Ruhn Danaan’s nose? And Naomi calls it The Incident? I’m in tears, stupid fucking males

- ew okay FUCK the Autumn King. fuck him. in the ass

- This whole situation with Hunt watching over Bryce is going to be everything I ever needed in life. You know he’s going to end up living with her. We all know that. 

- “Bondage. Nice.” 

“Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me.”

Hunt, baby she doesn’t care lmaoooo 

- awwwww Lehabah is the cutest I adore her. And Syrinx. He’s the cat I’ve always wanted

- Okay I kinda dig Declan and Flynn lol they’re definitely Older Brother’s Friends but I can tell their hearts are in the right place Sarah don’t do me dirty with them

- So Ruhn got his nose broken because Hunt was running his mouth at a fucking party and he managed to break a few of Hunt’s ribs but still got the shit rocked out of him, got it, got it, good to knowwww ahahahahahhahaha

- “Did you figure out what kind of demon did it?”

“Something that eats little princes for breakfast.”

“Blow me, Athalar.”

Boys, please 

- Oh, Bryce is good. Her fucking plan, I shoulda known

- The whole scene where she forces the satyr to sell her obsidian salt? I fell in love with her so Hunt doesn’t have to now

- I would like to make it clear that I have no clue if Bryce and Hunt are endgame, I’m currently only 210 pages in, but they fucking better beeeee

- Pleasantly surprised by the Viper Queen. Kind of a bad bitch, not gonna lie. Clearly a fashion icon. 

- Lehabah and I both have massive crushes on Hunt Athalar 

- AWWWWWWWW and Hunt flirts with Lehabah stop it you’re gonna kill her 

- Jesus 85 MILLION ?????? Hunt cost 85 MILLION gold marks ?????

- Hunt watches reality TV: confirmed 

- Good, they’re kinda friends now. We’re getting somewhere, this is good. Bryce realized she was super into Hunt’s voice and I quite honestly feel that 

- Sarah is really doing an excellent job highlighting the juxtaposition of Bryce and Hunt when they’re together. I’m a fan

- Oh sure, yes let’s summon a demon. Fuckin idiots

- It just hit me how little support Bryce has in her life right now. Like, in terms of friends. Danika is dead, the Pack of Devils are dead, she and her brother don’t get along. That’s heartbreaking

- Ah, I knew that angel Bryce saved would turn out to be important. She needs to throw that in Micah’s face the next time he’s being an asshole to Hunt

- Micah is still gorgeous though, oops

Read part 2 here

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Royal Rumble 2021 - Initial Thoughts

I know I’m late, but employment is still a thing, and I had to prioritize that over an all-nighter, but it’s time for the Royal Rumble, one of the more exciting shows of WWE’s schedule, so let’s get on with it!

Spoilers for Royal Rumble, you have been Warned

I might not invest too much in kickoff matches but the Women’s Tag Match was not a good time

It was fine before the end, but who the hell decided that Charlotte should control 90% of the champions’ offense and have the hot tag!? Asuka is the RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION, not Charlotte. After the tag Asuka literally had one spot and she was dead, completely taken out of the match for *checks notes* being thrown over the Announcer’s Table...you know that thing several wrestlers come back from easily.

The finish was just too much too, Ric distraction didn’t work, Lacey distraction didn’t work, Kirufuda Clutch didn’t work but then the brass knuckles did. Too much.

And why TF are we putting titles back on Nia!? We should’ve just given the titles to the Riotts, or the winner of the Women’s Dusty Classic. It also cuts me deep that Asuka and Shayna are treated this way, even as champion Asuka is a side character to Charlotte T_T

Main show though and I don’t like the package and interviews between entrances

Drew vs Goldberg was just...meaningless.

It was cringy enough that Cole had to spout drivel to make 60 year old Goldberg seem strong but to have Drew be ‘injured’ by a barricade spear - something much more tired wrestlers have and will get back up from in less time and continue a longer match - was daft. Also saying that Goldberg’s spear or jackhammer is the best move of all WWE is stupid, it was a WCW thing

Thank God Drew Won, but the post-match does remind you of the meaningless circumstances this feud came about. Suddenly Goldberg is okay with Drew’s same manners of respect

I mean, Carmella’s entrance and gear is cool, but do you think it eats at Corey a little that Carmella’s ‘behind the curtain’ bit is a tad...red light district?

Sasha’s promo didn’t hit for me unfortunately

Reginald didn’t deserve to be ejected for that! He caught Sasha and get beaten up for it

Jesus Carmella! Sasha got barely any of that dive

Screeching and faffing aside, Carmella got a good showing...I do hate quick tap outs in title matches though

Sami cuts a good promo, but his content wasn’t exactly the best. New Day are hardly the management’s faves, it’s taken this long for E to get a singles run, Fans literally had to Yes Movement their way into giving Kofi the world title.

New Day’s Brodie gear was good though

Bad Bunny as the ‘Biggest Latin Artist’? Is Cole for real? I didn’t even know who he was before today

If the song is about Booker T then why is he dancing around GI Bro?

Come on Book, you hang on the Sucka! That’d be like if the Rock just went ‘If ya smell what the Rock is cooking’ without the drags or pauses

Ric’s ‘with a tear in my eye’ promo was after the Rumble though...

It’s actually a sad stat that just over half of the Rumble winners win titles

No Morrison segment for the escape spot!? He did it as much as Kofi dammit!

Sorry Greatest Royal Rumble is not canon for me

This Stat Attack has taken far too long

I’m okay with Mike Rome but couldn’t a woman have announced the Women’s Rumble? Where’s Lillian at!?

NAOOOOOOOMIIIIIIIIIIIIII GIRL WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?

That hair is amazing as well

I know you can’t say it, but we all remember that Benoit won the rumble in the first two as well

Was...Bianca wearing earrings on her entrance, she looked like she was taking them off

Billie actually had the right idea, can’t be in the match until you enter the ring, it’s clever stuff

That tank did not look like it was meant to turn that direction XD

It actually surprises me every time how tall Shotzi is, I always imagine her short

Billie no...not with Shayna

The piped boos are highly unrealistic to boo even a heel Toni Storm

Shotzi eliminated and then horrible singer Jillian comes in? Urrrrgh, Bad Singer Jillian was terrible

Wrestling wise she hasn’t missed a beat though

Billie’s surprisingly being a highlight here with actual narra-OHMYSHITITSVICTORIA

Gear was a bit meh but Victoria definitely can still go

Oh Peyton the purple looks good on you, and her Widow’s Peak was not bad at all

Ah, good for Santana, for a moment I thought it said Santina and got a very bad chill

Damn Liv, Speed Machine!

Ooof, the betrayal is real Billie

THIS IS MY BRUTALITY!

Somehow I’m genuinely upset by every elimination so far, good job!

Aaaaaand then they got rid of Victoria and brought on Charlotte to immediately take out Rhea -_-

That was a clever move from Bayley but damn Ruby landed hard

Are we seeing a Bayley/Peyton team? Or is she just eliminating the Riotts for revenge for Billie, but also Liv Nooooo!

Torrie now, eh okay

Ouch for Dana

Lacey...no, this ain’t working

Poor Peyton, her elimination was a side chapter

And we missed Bayley’s elimination!? For Shame

Mickie! Good to see ya! Aaaaand being beaten by Charlotte...

Nikki Cross is back too! Hopefully they find a good story for her

Alicia Fox? I guess she sobered back into the good gra...R-Truth? No

Oh yeah, Humberto is a thing

Jerry shut the fuck up!

The 24/7 stuff was super unnecessary, we did not need to take focus off this match

Lacey eliminating Mickie, rude.

Dakota should’ve gotten more time, she barely lasted a minute

Reginald again deserves better

See Tamina vs Rhea would be exciting...if Tamina was booked better

Naomi’s chemistry with Bianca is really insane right now

Lana *reminded of her feud with Shayna and Nia* Also Lana *goes for Rhea*

That was a hard tackle on Alexa by Rhea...aaaaand she’s eliminated mid ‘transformation’ a bit worthless for me

Road Warrior Ember Moon! And right into the Eclipse that’s the good shit

Baszler probably shouldn’t have eliminated Lacey story-wise

The Betrayal is real for Tamina as well

What’s with the crazy camera cuts!?

Nia eliminating Baszler? Nah...

Hold on Cole, baiting Nia over the ropes isn’t a ‘tremendous elimination’

The betrayal is real for Lana too, Nattie sure shrugged off that double assault

I get that the narrative is that Charlotte has beaten both Bianca and Rhea before, but to hang against both of them after already being in a match and hanging on from two apron attacks was daft. Stop making her super strong, she’s mega talented yes but giving her the Brock Lesnar energy does her no favours

That close call though with Rhea and Bianca was great, need more spots of two wrestlers about to be eliminated at the same time

The final bit of chain wrestling too was great, that’s what you need at the final part of a rumble, the mini-match

I had Rhea as my win prediction but am more than happy for Bianca, who was my second choice. Winning at No. 3 is great and her emotional promo just gets her more over. Bianca vs Sasha’s gonna be wild too

Overall the Women’s Rumble was good, most of the women got shine and there were a few mini stories too, do wish that more time was given to some women and that Sonya was in the rumble but the returns were good and most of the eliminations got me good

Miz talking about guaranteeing a championship run like he didn’t lose the last cash-in and didn’t have a chance to cash in previously this night when Drew was ‘reeling’ from the barricade spear.

I reiterate that I wish Sonya was in the rumble, but do like her endorsement of Bianca

Again, this 24/7 stuff is wrong place and time right now

Last Man StANDing Match for the UniVERSal Championship

Cole, there is Champion’s Advantage. Triple H vs Michaels Last Man Standing, neither men made the 10 so Trips kept the title, 17 years ago. Royal Rumble 2004.

See, this is where a Finisher Spotfest works, because it’s not about pinfalls it’s about keeping people down

The camera switches are not doing good on this portion of the side of the thunderdome

Yes, attacking the knees, this is the Cerebral ‘rope breaks with his pinkie finger’ Owens I like to see

Ooof the Golf Cart, a la Kane and Stadium Stampede

Why is this training area just like a second arena

Lil’ running ref in the background

Right into that conveniently placed mini-ladder

Not the forklift! Think of Judy Bagwell!

Oh that curtain is the thing Becky took a photo of! I mean she was always gonna be backstage

Corey before the match ‘there must be a winner’, Corey after Owens went through the stage LED ‘The ref should consider stopping the match’

Did the Ciampa move there to stand up

I don’t think you’re allowed to use a Ref Bump that way

Then the Second Ref restarts the count and stops at 5!? If this doesn’t come back next SD it’ll be a misstep

It was a physical match, not the best I think the finish brought it down. The problem is that KO has lost 3 times now and the last time is a botch finish, and we can’t have him lose again - the poor guy needs a win

ON THIS DAY, I SEE CLEARLY!

I will say this immediately, revealing Edge and Orton as 1 and 2 beforehand was a terrible idea, just because you don’t have a live crowd doesn’t mean the people watching from home can’t be surprised

‘Number 3 is the worst number to draw on average’ - Belair just won at No. 3

Ali at 4? Then went after Edge and not Orton?

Sami, just don’t get in Orton’s face

Refs what are you doing? No rules in Rumble, where were you with Nia and Shayna with that logic

‘What does Shin need to do to be more successful?’ - for one not face AJ Styles, he is still a tag, US and IC champ as well as a RR winner, that’s quite successful

Carlito finally shows after the Legends Night tease and yes those are some abs

So...Randy’s just sleeping with this knee injury

Big E enters with some snappy camera angles again

I was hoping for more Ali - especially since Ricochet came immediately after - buy angry E was nice to see

Wait is that Elias’ entrance? Where’s the guitar strum?

Priesty, wonder if this is his main roster call

What DJ leaves his equipment on stage anyway?

‘The biggest star in the world in the music business’ - for real?

‘I’ve heard of flying squirrels but flying bunnies!?’ - Corey you need to watch Tokyo Joshi Pro, they got a flying sugar rabbit

To quote Ross Tweddell, MMMmmm Riddle...does not do it for me

Stop with the camera cuts I beg of you!

Mayor of Knox County!?

Ricochet eliminated by Kane, le sigh

The betrayal is real for DBry

Big Elim for Priesty though

‘Now it’s a Royal Rumble’ - reminder that Edge is a KOTR winner too, and that Nakamura is the King of Strong Sty-oh and Corbin eliminated him :/ what was the gauntlet about if you’re gonna Corbin him?

Otis’ new gear is slick

aaaaand Corbin’d again

Big Dom Fuck im Uhhhhhh Spinebuster’d

Damn he got him though

Dang that bounce sound from DBry

Bobby no why you gotta do Dom like that!?

Hurricane back from his Gangrel crossing and disposing Sammy Guevara’s broken body in Elite Deletion to do another rumble

One of these days, he’ll hit that Chokeslam and shit will go wild

Christian! This time getting the more emphatic reaction

Oh that smile, that hits you in the chest cavity...then Riddle ruins it

Rey comes in and WWE made him an advertisement ¬_¬

Edward James Omos what are you doing? well...I know what he’s doing, IC feud between AJ and E

Edward James Omos fuck you for eliminating Rey

The betrayal is real for Shamu

Cole how did you know it was Seth before his entrance hit?

I don’t think we were supposed to pick up Shamu welcoming Christian back but that was sweet

Then finally BWOAR

And Bwoar eliminates Cesaro, what was the point of his push? (it’s because his contract’s nearly up isn’t it?)

Again with the camera switching

Seth No! And where’s the boos pipe music!? DBry was a heavy favourite, that would’ve caused heat

Can’t believe Mmm Riddle lasted ahead of DBry

I didn’t forget about Orton, but the finish was good, that Orton tease got us good

It was a decent rumble, in hindsight you could tell Edge was winning given how they put express focus on Michaels winning at number on in the stat attack, Edge being face in peril for the first 10 entrants and Cole reminding us how long Edge has been in there

I don’t at all hate the end result, though I do question whether it was the best choice in the long run. Edge had his rumble win returning from injury already and throwing more legends at Drew does imply a heavy lack of depth in the current roster. Edge didn’t really need the win, but I’m not disappointed in him winning

The Men’s Rumble itself wasn’t as good as the women’s I don’t think, a lot of favourites of mine were unceremoniously dumped out quickly, any layered storytelling didn’t get enough time and it did feel a little by the numbers, almost a microcosm of modern WWE booking

Overall it was still a decent PPV, happy with the winners of the rumbles and that’s mostly all we need from a Royal Rumble. The Road to Wrestlemania starts here

[amillioninprizes]

An entirely too long post on how to fix Veronica Mars

So, anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows: 1) What a massive Veronica Mars fan I was and 2) how distraught I’ve been over the most recent season that debuted on Hulu in July. I’ve been pretty angry about it since it dropped, but the first month after I was pretty occupied with real life stuff. Now that I’m more settled, I’ve found myself getting sadder and angrier over time with just how terrible S4 was and what an obvious fuck you to longtime fans it was. It feels dumb to be so upset over a tv show, but this show got me through a lot over the past 8 years, and I feel like it’s been taken away from me.

 It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a new season. Ideally it would end here with maybe an alternate ending filmed to avoid alienating fans further. On the one hand, the botched release, overwhelmingly negative response, and silence from the creators after initial interviews don’t look good for renewal chances. On the other hand, Hulu doesn’t have a lot of streaming hits, it probably did relatively decent numbers, and there are rumors floating around that its pickup chances look good. On a personal level, I hate the idea that this is where the legacy of Veronica Mars ends, while at the same time being extremely wary of what the creators have planned. I think a big part of the disappointment with S4 was that the movie and books set up what could have been some really interesting storylines and situations, all of which RT and co. squandered for cheap drama and to apparently turn the show into an entirely new vehicle; additionally I had hope that S4 would be a chance to rectify some problems the show has long had, but again, S4 exacerbated them. At this point I don’t expect anyone higher up in the creative process or at Hulu to give a fuck about the fans or making the show better as long as they hit streaming targets, but here are some suggestions:

Fire Rob Thomas

 While he created the show, it’s become clear that not only has he lost touch with the audience and the original spirit of the character, he doesn’t seem too keen on putting much effort into writing the show (as I will discuss below). Then you have his clear misogyny: his views that women in relationships can’t be interesting, that what makes Veronica interesting as a character is her trauma and how much she can endure, and the fact that basically every female character in the history of the show has a history of sexual victimization. He thought that making the Mexican cartel hitmen “philosophical” was subverting expectations (which says a lot of what his expectations of Latinx characters are). Then this is the way he essentially exploited his long term fan base to earn a new season of the show, only to turn around and tell us that we don’t matter. From a business perspective alone keeping him doesn’t make sense; selling a streaming platform on your loyal fanbase and then proceeding to purposefully piss ~80% of them off would be pretty questionable to me as someone in charge. The sheer cruelty with which he treated not only the fans who have supported him for 15 years (I fucking used to liveblog iZombie y’all. iZombie!), as well as how he callously dismissed long time cast members in favor of celebrity guest stars should not be rewarded. He’s admitted in interviews that he would be ok with younger writers doing a reboot many years in the future; why not just let him have a producer credit and then hand the show over to someone who’s invested in making it good?

Put a woman in charge and diversify the writing staff

A big problem with a) Veronica’s characterization in S4 b) RT’s ideas about what makes female characters interesting c) the show’s long history of problematic treatment of sexual assault is that it comes from a man’s conception of the female experience. The Veronica showcased in S4 and that RT wants to write in the future is very much a male fantasy: hates marriage and children, traumatized, DTF, and is too cool for other women. RT stated in interviews that he wanted to show Veronica at a “crossroads” this season in a way he claimed had been shown for men but not women; many female viewers found this depiction to ring false (few women are spending their time fretting about how committing to marriage after five years in an established relationship will bar us from strange sex going forward). In addition to having RT at the helm, most of the show’s writing staff for the majority of its run has been white dudes, which doesn’t bode well for telling the story of a female PI in a diverse community in today’s political climate. Putting a woman in charge would hopefully help rectify these issues to make the character feel more true to life and put a damper on the misogynistic storytelling. The show has a natural candidate in RT’s second-in-command Diane Ruggiero-Wright (despite her problematic history, never forget #KeisterEggGate), who has admitted to not being able to watch the last episode. Jennifer Graham, who wrote both of the books, would also be a worthy addition to the writing staff; while the books had a mixed reception, most fans agree that she got Veronica’s character right. And with the show’s problematic historical treatment of minority characters, adding more POC writers going forward is also necessary.

Bring back Logan (alive)

You don’t have to be a LoVe shipper to recognize just how integral Logan has been since the inception of the show, not just as Veronica’s partner but as a character is his own right. Logan’s journey in many ways parallels Veronica’s, and shows a contrast in how different characters respond to similar trauma. The most critical plot line in the show’s history, the mystery of who killed Lilly Kane, simply doesn’t work without Logan’s importance to Veronica. RT and his defenders like to claim that Logan was holding her back from true growth, which is frankly bizarre as he is the only character to consistently challenge her, like when he tells her that she obviously isn’t happy this season. Additionally, Logan’s scenes this season were the lone highlight of what was otherwise a painful slog of a season. Of the people who have said they would watch a potential S5, a good portion are only interested because they believe that the ambiguity of the last 10 minutes of the season means he’s not really dead (despite what RT has said in interviews). Then there’s what Logan’s death does to Veronica’s character, effectively cutting off what would have been an interesting character arc and stagnating her forever. No matter how much they try to shove Leo the pedo creep and other milquetoast RT self-insert love interests on us, no one else can possible measure up to Logan’s level in terms of being able to match Veronica as a character, intellectually or as a result of shared history.

Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a Weevil/Logan interaction since S3 is a goddamn travesty and should be rectified immediately.

Bring back Veronica

As sad as I am about Logan’s death, for me the most upsetting aspect of S4 was the assassination of Veronica’s character. For many viewers (including myself), the character we saw Kristen Bell portray in S4 wasn’t Veronica Mars but a different character with the same name. Between her abusive behavior towards Logan, her general indifference to her father’s medical condition, her dismissal of Wallace, and her racism towards Latinx characters (using a kid’s lawyer to threaten deportation: not a good look!), she was lacking the marshmallow-y center that always balanced out the pricklier aspects of her character and made her compelling. This change in characterization was especially jarring given that she was not this way when we last saw her in the books, where she mused about having children and sent her half-brother Hunter to summer camp (side note, but does he even exist anymore?). Many of us who had grown up with Veronica were hoping to see her grow with us as a character; instead we got an extreme regression lower than we’ve ever seen her. It would be one thing if they were trying to depict a PTSD storyline, which would make sense given her background, but since her change in behavior is never addressed by the narrative, it just makes her look like a cruel asshole and makes it impossible to root for her. This is exacerbated by the fact that RT has made it clear he has no interest in portraying her inner life, as shown by his wanting to avoid showing her grief over Logan’s death because it would be a real downer compared to the entertaining but ultimately hollow banter and quips he wants to focus on. Veronica this season was also just plain dumb: you mean to tell me that the girl who nearly got killed by Aaron Echolls in her back seat wouldn’t think to check her backseat every time she gets in a car?  (And let’s not even start with RT’s bizarre assertion in an interview that she apparently votes Republican). Not helping matters was Kristen Bell’s performance, which felt very flat for me this season compared to S1-3 and the movie; I don’t know if this was due to personal limitations or a reflection of the bad writing. Writers of future installments and KB herself would be wise to revisit S1, the movie, and the books to figure out what makes sense for Veronica’s character, leading me to my next point:

Get reacquainted with canon, develop a show bible, and hire a continuity director

This show has long had a problem with dropped plots, timelines, and continuity issues. Shelly Pomroy’s party has two happened either in the summer, or the fall. Then we have the movie paradox: Veronica graduated high school in 2006, which means her 10 year reunion should have taken place in 2016. The movie was released in 2014 and the books seem to keep to 2014 dates. Then S4 states that Keith’s movie accident took place in 2013, and mysteriously ages Veronica up to 35 when she should be 32 in 2019. Logan mentions an Aunt Naomi in S4--why didn’t she take care of him after Aaron was arrested (and what happened to Trina)? How the hell is Leo working as an FBI agent when he presided over the disappearance of the Lilly/Aaron tapes? Veronica is shown to be tentatively forgiving of Weevil taking the settlement from the sheriff’s department in Mr. Kiss and Tell, but is then shown to be extremely angry towards him for it in S4. This is just a small selection of the inconsistencies within the show. Plus there is the problem of repeated plot lines: Veronica rejects Leo in favor of Logan in S1, then rejects Leo in favor of Logan in Mr. Kiss and Tell, only for her to...reject Leo in favor of Logan in S4 (and RT says he wants to leave the high school plots behind). This sloppiness doesn’t bode well for a series that is supposed to be about mysteries, which require tight plotting. It would behove TPTB going forward to once and for all determine a timeline of Veronica’s life, keep a detailed record of past plot and character points, and have at least one person on staff who thinks to remember this stuff (RT notoriously has only a “solid, not spectacular” memory of the show, no matter what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says).

Make an effort (and do your fucking research) 

Moving on from continuity issues to more general problems with the laziness of RT’s writing. He has basically admitted that he doesn’t care much about facts or characterization when writing plots--he shoehorns details to fit the plot rather than have it evolve organically from the characters and prior canon. I know that when writing it’s often impossible to make every story detail 100% accurate, but the extent of RT’s sloppiness is alarming. This excellent Reddit thread details a lot of the problems with S4 in particular, but this has been a problem since S2. Did anyone ever understand exactly why the Fitzpatricks were invested in framing Logan for Felix’s death? In the movie, it makes no sense that if Cobb and co. wanted Carrie silenced, they would add the complication of framing Logan for her murder--given her history, it would have been a lot easier just to make it look like she had accidentally overdosed. Given his previous patterns of villain writing fans were able to guess the identity of the S4 bomber based on casting alone. The mysteries in both Mr. Kiss and Tell and S4 are both ripped from the headlines, which indicates that RT wants to turn VM into the next Law and Order. Meanwhile, he complained about how hard including Logan in the story in S4 was, while Logan arguably had the best lines and most interesting scenes this season--apparently when you put an effort into things, they work out! This laziness extends past storyline issues and into factual problems that detract from the quality of the plot. Longtime fandom pals are probably tired about hearing me go on and on about how there’s no way Aaron’s lawyers could have gotten Veronica’s medical records due to HIPAA laws. Logan’s career change from naval aviator to intelligence is highly unlikely (and unnecessary, given that they changed it only to fridge him at the end of the season). Meanwhile, I know fanfic writers who have spent hours on the phone with strangers in order to research what type of firearm would cause a specific type of bullet injury. It’s very puzzling to me that RT wants to take the show in the direction of being mystery-only when apart from that one time he is piss poor at writing mysteries and puts no effort into them. I shouldn’t have to tell television writers to, you know, do their job but this is what we’ve come to in 2019.

Know your audience

A majorly annoying thing about the promo for this season is how in every single interview Rob Thomas did he was always talking about how he wanted VM to be like other shows and movies: Fargo, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Chinatown (which is apparently the only noir movie he’s ever seen). The thing is, if I wanted to watch those shows, I would; I watched Veronica Mars specifically because I enjoyed its unique qualities, and I would say most fans agree. The general perception within the fandom is that with this season Rob Thomas seems to have been aiming to dump the old, majority female, CW fanbase in order to achieve what he perceives as a cooler prestigious male fanbase; the issue is, new people aren’t going to take up a show in its fourth season if they didn’t watch or didn’t like earlier seasons. Also, trying to write a prestigious show doesn’t make your show prestigious. Considering that based on anecdotal evidence most of the people who like S4 seem to be male, he may have succeeded in the first part of his aim. However, this majority female fanbase he was so willing to cast aside are the ones who have run fansites and rewatches during fallow times (i.e. between S3 and the movie and then between the books and S4), so drumming up interest among fans (and therefore streaming views) in the future may be a challenge. Plus, women are a better advertising demographic since they are more likely to be in charge of household purchasing decisions, so maintaining us as a fanbase makes business sense as well. He may have tricked enough people into watching S4 that S5 is given a go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if streams are weak beyond that. If the show is to succeed as a commercial endeavor, better to go with appealing to a known quantity than trying to make a generic show that very few people have expressed interest in watching.

Bring back the mystery of the week

This is a more minor thing I felt was missing from S4. I think after the criticism of S3 not having a season-long arc RT overcorrected in focusing on one mystery. However, the mystery of the week had the following benefits: 1) giving chances for the characters to interact and telling us more about them 2) helping to modulate the pace of the season-long arc. With better writing a season-long standalone mystery could maybe work, but in the case of S4 specifically the mystery was kind of dull and repetitive and could have stood to include a couple of diversions in the form of a smaller case here and there.

Re-evaluate the creators’ interpretation of the word “adult”

Much of the promo and reviews for this season noted the more “adult” content to be expected this season now that Veronica’s grown. Many fans hoped that meant seeing Veronica act like, you know, an adult with adult problems rather than a teenager less mature than the actual teenager she was. Unfortunately, the show’s interpretation of the word seems to be more in keeping with a television rating sense of the word--meaning sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence (But apparently not the word “fuck.”). Look, it was expected that as the show moved to a streaming service and given the overall dramatic scope that there would be an upgrade in some of this sort of content (and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to steamier LoVe moments, which were sorely overpromised), but the way it was included this season felt like RT and co. included this stuff just because they could and not to serve the storyline. For me, personally, the biggest example of this was Veronica’s drug use, which I know didn’t necessarily bother everyone. Given her history as the daughter of an alcoholic as well as someone who had been the victim of two roofie attacks, not to mention the fact that her character never seemed to be into partying, I found it very out of character (and book writer Jennifer Graham agrees). It felt like RT included this just bc they thought it would be funny to see Veronica on drugs without considering whether it made sense for her character. Also, were the beheadings strictly necessary? Plus there’s RT’s little temper tantrum over not being able to use curse words this season--they weren’t present in the original show, no one was going to miss them now, and the “cuss” thing was just annoying and reminiscent of The Good Place. 

Dealing with a parent who maybe has dementia--that’s an adult storyline. Too bad RT ended it with a dumb excuse about “mixing meds” (another factual error! Pharmacy software would have caught it!) rather than actually exploring what it would mean for Veronica to see her father in decline and take over the family business (and give Rico Colantoni the exit he appears to want). This is the kind of adult content I would hope to see in future seasons.

Adult is not a synonym for “unrelentingly bleak” either. The original show, while dark, always had an element of hope that was completely removed from S4 (no matter what KB might claim). And would it have killed the writers to show Veronica wearing disguises and going undercover like she used to? There was nothing fun about this season (and no, I don’t count the multiple partying scenes as fun, more like sad).

Kill your darlings

It’s cliche, but it’s true. Another issue the show has long had is the writers keeping around characters or inserting jokes and references for their own personal amusement rather than for the story. The most notable example of this is the continued presence of Dick, a highly problematic character considering he pushed Beaver into the room with Veronica the night of Shelly Pomroy’s party, among a whole host of other racist, sexist, and generally obnoxious actions over the years. But because Ryan Hansen is so widely beloved among the cast and crew, so he stays. Then there’s the matter of the infamous Keister egg in 3x08, which the writers and KB have all expressed love for, despite the fact that said Keister egg is an example of sexual assault--which, even if the victim is a douchey fraternity president, is never funny. 

Also the constant Big Lebowski references are tiring. Watch a new movie.

Improve Neptune’s gender ratio

Veronica Mars, despite having a female lead, has always been a male-dominated show; other than Veronica herself, the only consistent female character over the original show was Mac (and she didn’t even come back this season). This is unacceptable in 2019, for any show. The books introduced promising female characters in the form of Marcia Langdon and Petra Landros, but Marcia’s character was was watered down for S4 and Petra was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Veronica and Mac have always been written as “cool girls” who looked down on other women for their femininity, which isn’t a great message. Almost every other female character, even the innocuous Parker, is portrayed as somehow bad or incompetent. I would love nothing more than a season centered on the women of Neptune and their interactions with each other. While we’re at it, stop giving every woman on this show a background of sexual victimization.

Treat VM as an ensemble show, not a Kristen Bell vanity project 

A major complaint from Burnt Marshmallows and S4 defenders alike was how little time was given over to the original core cast this season. While Veronica may be the protagonist, a large part of how the show became so beloved was her relationships with the other characters. Yet RT has decided that going forward VM will be a KB solo project, with her traveling town to town quipping and sleeping with strangers. This seems strange, given Kristen’s recent interviews talking about how difficult it is to shoot VM and how she never wants to be first on a call sheet ever again, not to mention how she asked for less screen time all the way back in S2, which resulted in the Weevil-Logan storyline, which was way more interesting than Veronica’s storylines during the first half of that season. (The traveling detective thing also seems weird considering that KB is pretty insistent on shooting in LA to be near her family.) Additionally, if this is truly the last season of VM with all the original characters, then no one got a proper sendoff. 

I’m not sure how willing much of the cast will be to return for future iterations, given how uncomfortable many of them seemed during promo as well RT and KB’s treatment of them (insensitive at best, deliberately mean at worst) this season (shout out to Tina Majorino for recognizing what a shit show this was going to be), but bringing back all the original characters into the fold and giving them significant storylines would go a long way to mending fences with fans, improving the show from a character arc perspective, and would also give KB the break she apparently wants. 

Recourt the fanbase

What has VM always been renowned for above all else? It’s incredibly loyal fandom which not only got it renewed twice during its original run but also put up their own money to get the movie made--I know many people who donated when they really couldn’t afford to. RT basically owes the last 6 years of his career to VM fans--the success of the Kickstarter arguably got him the iZombie show running gig, and the fourth season likely wouldn’t have even happened if not for it. Thus, the blatant cruelty and disregard with which RT and KB have treated fans during the promotion of S4 has been incredibly insulting and hurtful; I still can’t fathom what in the world possessed RT to think that throwing away this 15-year relationship was a good idea. It’s not a good sign when the 2 fansites most active during the post-movie period (VMHQ and VM Confessions) cease operations in the wake of S4, and when at least 3 out of 8 board members of the oldest running fan group, Neptune Rising (who were dormant during the post-movie period but played a critical role during earlier fan campaigns and in the S4 promo) resign. A fandom this loyal that was betrayed will not stand idly by if the S5 RT wants to make goes ahead; given the number of tweets the official Hulu VM account has had to delete in the wake of S4 due to the overwhelmingly negative response as well as the controversy over editing out Logan from S4 promos, I imagine that S5 will be a PR nightmare. Even if future seasons are amazing the trust can probably never be fully repaired, but it would be helpful for RT (or fingers crossed, a new show runner) and KB (as star and EP) to go overboard in reaching out to fans and at least admitting they made a misstep with the entirety of S4. Back in the day, the old Mars Investigation fansite was invited to set to conduct interviews; maybe do that again. Also someone should get KB some sort of VM fandom-fluent media trainer because I don’t think she has conducted a single interview during her entire stint on the show that didn’t anger fans (it might help if she actually bothered to watch the show).

Map out an endgame

Look, this can’t go on forever. As long as RT keeps leaving every installment open ended with the hopes of maybe getting renewed again five years down the line, the story is going to keep running into the issues the movie and S4 faced with having to shoehorn the characters into nonsensical plot lines to reconcile those endings and deal with actor availability issues. Either plot another 2-3 seasons to wrap the show up with a satisfying conclusion, or map out a greater timeline of Veronica’s life with spots where a mini series or movie here and there could fit in.

[redorblue]

Tiamat’s Wrath, by James S.A. Corey

It’s been a while since I finished, and I’m still A MESS (and, apparently, not the only one). So this is not going to be coherent in any way, just me rambling about what stood out to me in those 541 pages of pure stress.

I’m tagging it as spoilery, but still: CAREFUL, SPOILERS! (also, long)

Alright. No way around that: the first sentence messed me up badly. I’m pretty sure that’s never happened to me, having a character die on me in the very first sentence of a book (not even the first chapter! The prologue, ffs!). And technically not even that, she’s been dead for a while, I just learned about it now. The thing is, I expected something like this to happen at some point, I was already dead scared for her in Persepolis Rising once it had sunk in that we’d just done a time jump of several decades, but I thought we’d get her death on screen, if only because she’s been such an influential character over the last seven books. It feels odd to just have her gone, without drama and fanfare. My guess is that, besides being really old at this point, she also didn’t have much energy left because of her failure to protect Sol system against the Laconians and the feeling of powerlessness and inevitability that came with Laconian rule. With the political center of the galaxy moving to Laconia, she probably lost most of her influence, and I think that takes a heavy toll on a born politician and decades-long power broker such as Chrisjen Avasarala. So it makes sense that she’d just... die (and it certainly sets the tone for the rest of this bloodbath of a novel).

Once I got over the initial shock, I also came to appreciate the way her death (or rather, her being dead) is written. I liked that we got a tiny peek into her relationship with her granddaughter that doesn’t sentimentalize her, but gives an interesting inside view into her worldview. The quote on her tomb broke my heart:

“If life transcends death, then I will seek for you there. If not, then there too.”

I loved every single word of the tiny snippets of information we got about her relationship with Arjun back in book 5 (or 6?), when it became ever clearer that he’d just disappeared, never to be found again, like millions of others on Earth. So to see that she still misses him, and that the fact that she never even found his body still haunts her... It breaks my heart, but it’s also really sweet. It says a lot about her personality (determination was her second name) and it shows this soft side of her that nobody around her ever got to see. But even though she mostly came of as mean and ruthless to other people, it’s nice to see that she had a positive impact on their lives (and that it’s acknowledged!). It so often happens that once a character is dead, they’re never mentioned again, and certainly never mourned. I appreciate it a lot that this didn’t happen here, that it’s pointed out several times how even in death she’s helping the other characters deal with their situation, especially in the few Holden POV chapters. I’m really grateful that her memory is being honored, especially since it’s honored by characters imagining her bossing them around, which I’m pretty sure she would have liked.

Second, I like the view on humanity that’s presented here, in the series in general but especially explicitly in this book. I’d argue that it’s actually quite positive, despite all the power-hungry,conscience-proof narcissists like Duarte and Inaros and Errinwright and Mao and Cortázar and... Yes, they exist and they naturally have a lot of tools to screw things up, which is only realistic, but they’re presented as outliers. The rest of humanity is messy, and unruly, and sometimes has an impressive ability to ignore paradoxes, but it is also capable of empathy and mercy, and most people can find the strength to stand up for what’s right when it matters. I think the best summary of this philosophy is found in a monologue from Emma:

“Easy to make rules. [...] Easy to make systems with a perfect logic and rigor. All you need to do is leave out the mercy, yeah? Then when you put people into it and they get chewed to nothing, it’s the person’s fault. Not the rules. Everything we do that’s worth shit, we’ve done with people. Flawed, stupid, lying, rules-breaking people. Laconians making the same mistake as ever. Our rules are good, and they’d work perfectly if it were only a different species. [...] I’ll die for that. [...] I’ll die so that people can be fuckups and still find mercy.”

What she’s saying is that our general aversion to rules gets us into a lot of trouble, but it also gives us flexibility, and therefore the capacity for mercy even if we’re perfectly certain that a person screwed up. She’s also saying that it’s important to stand up for that, to not just care about one’s own tiny bubble and put every terrible thing that happens down to “guess they had it coming”. Because it’s not as easy as that.

I also love this quote because it’s one of the strongest statements of what’s actually wrong with Laconia. Several characters, in this book and the last, point out that it’s really hard sometimes to not loose track of why Laconia’s version of authoritarian rule is actually terrible, and I gotta admit that I agree. Sometimes, on paper, the whole organising principle just seems so... sensible. There aren’t any graphic descriptions of bloody massacres like when Eros got infected with the protomolecule or when Inaros dropped the asteroids on Earth. Even the actions that are clearly atrocious, like Trejo destroying Pallas or the protomolecule “production” in the pens, are described in a way that feels very surgical, almost hygienic, so that you loose sight of what’s actually happening. I’m pretty sure that that’s deliberate, that the authors want their audience to slip into this mindset of “are they really that bad?” every now and then in order to make the audience see that authoritarian regimes aren’t only bad when they have obvious bloodstains on their hands. They’re actually bad all the time, and even more dangerous when they’re not that obvious. When the arbitrariness that most of us associate with dictators is replaced by a set of rules so strict that you gotta slip up some time, and once you do there’s no fixing your mistake. Plus, the absolute confidence (read: hubris) in their own decisions that often comes with this specific kind of dictator makes them immune to any kind of outside opinion, which, as this book clearly demonstrates, leads to some astonishingly short-sighted decisions and a whole lot of very dangerous complications. So all in all, I think this book does a pretty good job at exposing the nature of authoritarian regimes, from the system of distributed (read: lack of) responsibility that comes with a strict chain of command and their complete lack of accountability or checking for logical errors, to the treacherous allure that some of them might have.

Third, I love the way the romantic relationships are written. I’m usually not a big fan of romance because I think in most cases the romance is more a necessity that comes with the medium than an actual gain for the plot, but I love these. Probably because at this point, all the romantic relationships have been an established fact in the couple’s lives for a few decades now, and they give me this feeling of being... settled, in all the best ways. It can be exciting to watch a new relationship being formed, and I love slow burns to death, but once the new couple gets together my excitement normally fades away pretty quickly. Apparently there’s only a limited number of ways to introduce conflict in such a situation (and no, it can’t come from the outside and the rest of the plot for... reasons), and usually the new couple is way too busy with sudden attacks of irrational jealousy, a dark secret in the past, the do-they-really-love-me-agony etc. for me to enjoy this relationship that I’ve been rooting for for so long. Especially since it’s usually a problem that the couple could solve by having a long and honest conversation, but for REASONS that’s not an option and... I digress. So I like established relationships because they generally don’t come with that particular brand of drama, which means that there’s space to actually focus on the couple itself or on (gasp) the plot. This whole series does that pretty well - I already mentioned that I adore Chrisjen and Arjun as a couple - and in this book there is a lot of it. Naomi and Holden, obviously, and Elvi and Fayez, and for me also Drummer and Saba, although he doesn’t show up on stage at all and she does so only briefly, so in their case it’s more of an aftereffect of Persepolis Rising that’s exacerbated by him dying.

I don’t know how to put this into words exactly, but I love that these relationships are so stable (and by that I don’t mean boring). The fact that it has been an important part of the characters’ lives for so long doesn’t mean that they don’t express their love anymore, that they don’t think about each other with affection, that they don’t worry about the other or miss them. There’s lots and lots of fluff, if you want to put it that way. But most of all, they provide what a committed relationship is actually supposed to provide: an anchor, a sense of belonging, stability, mutual understanding, acceptance... without taking away the characters’ agency, identity or personal freedom. It’s most visible in Elvi and Fayez, where Elvi is the one with the important job, the long hours and high security clearance, and Fayez just supports her through all of the awfulness. He doesn’t pry, he doesn’t pick a fight with her for never being home, and he doesn’t reproach her for not eloping with him in the end because he can see that this is important for her. And while we don’t get his POV, I’m pretty sure that he’s not just swallowing his anger or feeling unfulfilled in his clearly supporting role - he just has his priorities straight, and No. 1 on that list is Elvi. Which is what a healthy relationship should look like.

And I think the same goes for Naomi and Holden. As painful as it was to watch her mourn him over almost one and a half books, I think it might be good for their relationship. He’s always been the one in the spotlight, not because he wanted it so badly but because he’s naturally good at it, and she was the one in the shadows (of her own volition, I need to add). I think that the events of this book, with her rising to the very top of the resistance movement and putting her logistical brilliance to work, will add a whole new layer to their dynamic. She’s now finally in a position where she might be able to prevent at least some of these situations that trigger his instinct of running head first into danger for the good of others. I don’t think she’d try to pull rank on him, but she has a bit more control over circumstances now so that she’d at least be able to do the whole rushing into danger thing together, and it puts them on more equal footing, hierarchically speaking. That’s never been an issue in their relationship per se, but it has been a factor in the way they interact with others both as a couple and as individuals. He often deferred or at least conferred with her, but Holden was the one other people addressed first, and that’s going to be different in the next book.

In the same vein, this book also made my shipper heart both glad and utterly devastated at the same time because there’s so much Alex-Bobbie-content. I’m not sure if you can actually call it shipping - I never wanted them to be an item romantically, but I think they’re one of the best examples of a queerplatonic relationship that’s out there. It’s canon that they never slept together, probably never even kissed, and it’s still made abundantly clear that they’re each other’s person. Alex stating that he intents to grow old with Bobbie (I think that was book 7? I’m not crying you’re crying); Bobbie worrying all the time about Alex’ safety and that he feels like he’s missing out on things like being with his son because he’s out fighting Laconia with her; the fact that he’s the only one who can get to her when she would have punched anybody else - I don’t know, they do more for me than any of the romantic couples, and I already said how much I love those. Bobbie and Alex share all of the positive traits that the romantic relationships have, but their bond is presented in a much less conventional format. It says that relationships not based on romance and/or sex can be just as lasting, committed and loving as romantic relationships, and I need to hear that more often.

Which, of course, made it all the more devastating when Bobbie died. It made sense for the narrative - with Clarissa dying at the end of Persepolis Rising, and Bobbie now, we’re down to the original Roci crew, and it solves the captaincy confusion that was part of the problem in Persepolis Rising. And I guess it also made sense for her character in that it’s a fitting death for her - it shows off all of her best personality traits from her loyalty to her crew and her convictions to her military genius, and it’s just generally badass. It still makes me very sad, though, because it’s the end of this beautiful bond that my ace ass needed, and watching Alex grieve is heartbreaking. I love Alex to pieces, he has such a caring soul, and those scenes after the battle against the Tempest where he’s working himself half to death over his grief and guilt while knowing perfectly well that he’d have killed the entire crew by trying to save her - those were absolutely awful. But as much as my heart bleeds for him, Bobbie dying also brought me one of my favourite moments for him as a character and for Naomi and Alex as a family, namely when he returns to the Roci and talks to Naomi about what it’s like to have lost Bobbie. It goes like this:

“[Naomi] ‘I am so sorry about Bobbie. I cried for a whole day.’ Alex looked down and away. His smile shifted invisibly into a mask of itself. ‘I still do sometimes. It’ll take me by surprise and it’s like it’s happening again, for the first time,’ he said. ‘Thinking about Jim does that to me.’

This direct comparison between Naomi losing her lover and Alex losing Bobbie is, to me, the ultimate confirmation that their relationship was just as loving and committed as the main romance of the series. Plus, Alex freely admits that he cries a lot, which is, of course, a normal reaction, but also such a good example of a healthy kind of masculinity that he shares with Fayez, for example. Their partners taking point is not presented as a sign of them being incompetent, unimportant or “emasculated” because it doesn’t take away from their personality in any way. It just shows that they have different, equally admirable strengths that form part of their personality - not their gender identity.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Fear 4x08: Analysis

***Spoilers for FTWD 4x08 abound. Don’t read until you’ve watched!*** 

 Okay, let's talk about FTWD. Of course, will start with Madison's apparent death. Yeah, I'm not at all convinced. I'll explain why as we go along, but there are way too many symbols around her that show that she's really alive.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that she has, for all intents and purposes, left Fear. They gave her a big sendoff and I don't think we'll see her again anytime soon. But I do think that either 1) she will show up again after several seasons, or 2) she’ll show up in regular TWD.

Also understand that I don’t actually care that much about Madison’s character. I’ve never cared much for her and I’m not gonna start a Madison Team Delusional. I’m just saying this is what the symbols are telling me, and I won’t be at all surprised if we see her again in the future.

I also agree with at @wdway, who pointed out that with Madison gone, there's not another strong leader in this group right now. Sure, Alicia or Strand could evolve into a strong leader very easily, but for right now, there is no obvious choice to replace Madison as leader of the group. All that points toward the two shows (TWD and FTWD) possibly merging sometime soon. If they do merge, we don't know if Fear will continue to be its own series, or just become part of TWD. If it does become part of TWD, then Madison showing up again will have to be in TWD. Of course it's all conjecture for now.

The main reason I think she's alive? 

No body. Once again, they didn't show us her death. I kept waiting to see her get overwhelmed by the walkers. She never did. It's implied that she did, but we didn't see it. Because of my theories about Rick, even if she had been swarmed and gone under the horde, I might not have been 100% convinced.

About the only thing that would have 100% convinced me she is dead would be if we'd seen her be bitten by one of the walkers. Had her throat ripped out or something. Something she couldn't come back from. We didn’t see that at all. In fact, in the end, she threw her little fire stick into the crowd of walkers and started them on fire. They were still good distance away from her at that point. Theoretically, she could have used the opportunity to slip away to some passage or path that we couldn’t see. How or what would it have been? I have no idea. The camera stayed very close on her face and we couldn't see much of what was going on around her.

I’d also like to point out something very similar to this happened with Daniel in S2 of FTWD. He was in a building that was burning very closely around him. They never explained exactly how he got out. He simply figured it out. Found some way to escape. Lots of fans complained that it was terribly unrealistic that he would've gotten out of that building, but he did. That makes me think Madison did to. Who cares if it’s realistic? I’m not arguing that it is or isn’t. Just that there’s a precedent for it in FTWD.

And another thing: Althea drove her truck into the stadium where there were hundreds of burnt walkers. Another way they could have confirmed Madison’s death would have been to see her as a walker. Would have been super-easy. Nope nada.

Let’s go over some of the signs and symbols that I saw in this episode that had major Beth parallels, which adds to the idea of a death fake out for Madison.

First off, I thought this would be a major parallel to the prison falling. And there were some broad parallels to that for sure. Overall, this episode had closest to ties Still.

When Madison first happens upon Althea's camp (in the past) we see bottles hanging from a rope that Althea is using as a warning system against walkers. We’ve seen that more than once, but the first time we saw was in Still.

It also occurred to me that Naomi and Morgan, as a pair, had some small parallels with Beth and Daryl in this episode. They both jumped out of Althea's van and ran into the stadium to get medical supplies. Some of their dialogue caught my ear.

Alicia nearly blew them up. Althea got on the walkie and asked if they were okay. Morgan answered, "We’re good in here. You got out there?" Just reminded me of the whole “We’ll Be Good” thing. (Sorry the picture is blurry.)

Later, Morgan says, "You okay?" several times to Naomi. Finally, they realize Alicia is in the van is going to kill Naomi. Morgan tells her to stay hidden. He says he'll go out because Alicia doesn't want to kill him and Naomi can talk him through helping John on the walkie. He didn’t get the chance to do so because Alicia shows up, but we had them standing at a broken window, and Morgan was going to go out the window and up the way while Naomi stayed behind. A very Alone kind of situation.

Major focus on a bridge while Madison told Althea her story. (Bridge Theory: X, X). Even looks like the Danville Bridge.

Madison also told Althea a story about an injured bird. Of course, Beth is the Songbird, but remember that in 4x09, she was actually represented by an injured bird. Carl was walking around the pudding house and opened the door to one bedroom and he saw an open cage and a dead bird on the floor. You can read about the details HERE. But, together with all the other Beth symbols in that episode, it was a clear foreshadow of Beth being shot at Grady.

So Madison starts telling the story about an injured bird. She even talked about the kids digging up worms to feed it. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but I couldn't help but think of Daryl eating the worm and 5x10. I kept thinking that Madison would say the bird died. It was very sad story and in the story she expecting the bird to die. But in the end, it lived. Her children nursed it back to health, even though it took weeks and weeks. So we have a symbolic story about an injured bird who should have died by all rights, but was nursed back to health and eventually took flight again.. Sound like our Songbird?

And let's not overlook the fact that John is going to live! Yea! Naomi said he would be all right, and that's as good as a confirmation, because we know they use dialogue foreshadows in this show. Remember, I said HERE that him being shot was an exact parallel of Coda. So, because he lived, it's yet more confirmation that Beth also lived.

When the stadium went down, things got really interesting. The walkers looked a lot like the ones TF thought in Alexandria in 6x09. But here we have an opposite situation. They talked about how the people at the stadium had no faith in their home or in Madison as a leader. They didn't stay to fight the walkers but ran from them, and all died because of it. In 6x09, we the people believed in their home and in their leaders (Rick and Michonne) so they worked together to fight the walkers. All those who fought them lived and were able to save their home. Interesting.

Naomi also says at one point that she tried to talk everyone out of leaving. But, "I couldn't change their minds." It just reminded me of Beth saying to Daryl, "what changed your mind?" And once again it's a matter of faith. Her faith and goodness were able to change his mind, which helped him to keep going. Because Naomi couldn't change the minds of the people at the stadium, they all died.

Madison also said to Alicia of the stadium, "I thought you needed it to stay who you are." So another example of the, "stay who you are, not who you were," theme.

Then there’s Madison’s line and the title of the episode, "No One's Gone Until They're Gone." This is more of the “Gone” theory, and it's definitely true Madison. No one in her family watched her die. No one was there when it happened. None of the viewers actually saw her die. We saw her appear to die, but as for right now, she's just gone.

This number also really jumped out at me. Notice the 407 behind Madison. I've noticed it several times throughout the season, as it's painted on the wall of the stadium, but couldn't figure out what it might be pointing to. It's very prominent in this last shot of her right before she apparently dies.

Guys, 4x07 was one of the Governor episodes before the prison went down. In 4x06, we had some major Beth foreshadows, but 4x07 was where the Governor actually returned to the prison and TF. He did so as a villain and brought the prison down, so perhaps Madison will return either as a villain or with villains? Whatever it ends up being, I’m seeing 4x07 as a major return symbol.

Then there's the crowning thing that makes me super suspicious of Madison’s death, and also makes this episode like Still. A song called Love, Love, Love by the Mountain Goats plays the end. For those who don't know The Mountain Goats sang Up the Wolves at the end of Still. I recognized the voices right away and quickly jumped online to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

Tomorrow or Thursday I’ll do an in-depth analysis of the song lyrics. I’ve looked them over and they're VERY interesting. They give credence to both Beth and Madison still being alive. But I don’t want to do that today because this post will be too long.

But once again, we had something been burned to the ground, we had burnt walkers walking around, we have a blonde that went missing, but we never saw what happened to her body. And we had a song by the same group that setting up the walls in still.

I’ve said from the beginning of this season that Madison has had major parallels to Beth. It was odd because I never really liked Madison. She was kind of the opposite of Beth in the past, which means they purposely changed her character for this season. And then she just happens to die suspiciously with all these symbols around her in the same season they’ve given her all these death parallels?

Madison, dead? Yeah, I'm not buying that at all. Thoughts?

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 08/17 NXT 08/19 Smackdown 08/21

Raw:

PPPFFFFFTTTTTT what a great photo op

The “B.O.A.T.” gimmick isn’t the absolute worst

Can anybody tell me why Seth is out here droning on about Rey Mysterio? “Seems like a lot of chitter chatter,” yes Seth, it does. Go away.

Lol countout victory. Yikes.

Oh good, Seth has a mic now. Next.

“Hold on, we have so much gold we need to put down.” Granted, I despised Baysha legitimately holding all of the titles back in summer, and it’s what drove me away from watching wwe... but on a positive note, Bayley is hilarious.

Why hasn’t the ref called for a dq? Why does Raw have zero consistency in how matches are refereed? I don’t even hate John Cone but wwe makes him look like a fool tbh. Him and Little Naitch both.

It’s a fun time watching Shayna fight any of the 4hw, ngl. I especially like watching her overpower Baysha simultaneously.

Match itself wasn’t anything compelling, but I appreciate how many components it advanced. Bayley & Sasha losing per usual, Baysha/Asuka, Shayna/Nia, a future Shayna/Baysha “feud”. Points. Bad reffing, but points nonetheless.

Ruby getting all protective. Flex on them.

Hi why are the broomsticks on Raw? Can we not??

Interesting seeing Peyton accumulate all of these singles wins but okay, sure.

At least it’s nice that they’re making an effort to iron out the kinks in Liv/Ruby’s friendship, rather than pretending like they never feuded. Points.

Big fan of Ruby & Liv together as faces, for the record. That’s a tag team that should last for years before they get split again.

“Marina Shafir makes her Raw Underground debut” great keep her and broomstick #2 down there, canceled or not.

Glad I sat through this god awful 2 minute segment to see an “advancement” in Nia/Shayna. Time I won’t get back.

Highlight: Bayley & Sasha vs Asuka & Shayna

---

NXT:

The gist of this match: a nobody gets WAY too much offense against number 1 contender, in a match that was WAY too long.

Then we follow with a segment that highlights how incapable Dakota is on her own compared to Io. Typical “weak, cowardly heel” booking. This reminds me of why I didn’t like Sasha in a tag team; sure she might win with the help of her best friend, but she had zero legitimacy on her own - which was criminal in itself. Anyway.

“Tegan Nox on being friends with Candice Lerae” No.

I like Shotzi with Rhea more than Tegan, but man this seems like a massive waste for Rhea.

Can’t be bothered with RSB getting screen time every single week tbh. A fine concept of utilizing lower talent, poor execution.

oof really gonna take a ddt with your knees bent. Mk.

Points to Rhea for: shoulder ramming the ringpost - clean af - and for the powerbomb onto the fucking concrete. Brutal.

Highlight: Rhea Ripley

---

Smackdown:

It’s not that I think Mandy is an awful promo, I just think she does a shit job talking straight into a camera. Work in progress.

Oh snap Bayley got herself some fireworks, good for her.

Bayley says nobody can beat both of them in the same night and Naomi of all people comes out. Her and what prestige?

Fair play to Corey “Pretty Eyes” Graves for trying to cause dissention, but Bayley and Sasha do a better job of causing it all by themselves.

Restholds in 3 minute matches make me sad.

Sasha “I can make anyone look like a legitimate opponent” Banks, ladies and gentlemen. & Bayley loses to a fucking rearview, OOF.

I like the concept of a beat the clock to determine who fights Asuka first, but they’re spinning their wheels building to this inevitable Bayley/Sasha feud, and they’re making it far too obvious. I’m tired.

Points to Sasha for her back and forth between “lol fuck Bayley, I won” and “oh no my poor bff, I’m so sorry you lost”

Welp Sasha’s dead. rip.

Points to Bayley for grabbing solely her titles and hesitating to check on Sasha. Like I said, they cause the dissention better on their own.

“I’m extremely sorry for everything you went through this week,” Dana says. “It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Sonya replies, before slapping the absolute shit out of her. POINTS.

Negative points to Dana for choosing to immediately fix her hair as Sonya walks away.

Points again for Sonya as a promo. Mayhaps Becky spoke some truths when she dubbed her the next breakout star.

I appreciate the new stakes in their SS match as a way to give Sonya some time to deal with everything irl. It’s understandable why she left. Hope she’s enjoyed her time off to some degree.

“Love can actually be a really terrible thing. It’s just a way to trick you into an emotional, physical, and financial burden.” Bray speaks truths. The fact that Alexa has made me seek out watching a Bray Wyatt promo earns her points, and it doesn’t even look like she’s on tonight.

Nikki’s concerned Alexa is gonna change and Bray says Alexa and Braun loved each other and the field of flowers is now a field of death and decay. They’re kind of overselling Fiend btw. Anyway.

Highlight: Sonya slapping Dana

---

*By process of elimination, Smackdown shined the brightest for me this week. At least there were more compelling moving pieces on Smackdown. 

[miss-musings]

Why I want to stop watching the Blacklist (a.k.a., A Rant by Me)

This used to be my favorite show. Hands down. I would legitimately schedule things around it; I would leave events early to make sure I could watch it live; I would post about it on Tumblr and read other people’s posts the rest of the evening; I would search through multiple review site’s posts the next day.

I loved the dynamic between Red and Liz. I loved the mysteries and the little morsels of answers that we would get. I loved how, in the S1 finale, it felt like no one was safe: Meera got killed; Harold got attacked and nearly killed; Tom was shot and left for dead.

But, over the past few seasons, this show has become the bane of my TV-watching experience.

(EDIT: this post, which quietly keeps gaining notes, was written post-S4, pre-S5. So, there’s still plenty of relevant things in the post, but just keep the timing in mind.)

I would watch it, sure. But that was because I didn’t want the folks on Tumblr spoiling it for me. It was because I thought we were finally getting answers – which is what they teased us with every other week – only to feel so disappointed.

This last year, I made reaction videos for a friend of mine for every single episode. You know what one of the most commonly said things in those videos is? “Well, at least next week’s preview looks good.” Only to be disappointed in that episode, and to say the same thing about next week’s preview, and the cycle repeated itself until we actually got a half-way decent episode (which was usually some kind of finale or premiere, because that’s the only time actual shit can happen – during Sweeps Week).

Over and over again, both online and in person, I compared this to those scenes in cartoons where someone puts a carrot on a fishing pole in front of a donkey, and the donkey runs so hard to reach the carrot, only to never get there.

That’s how this show has felt the past season or two.

It’s only a shadow of what it once was, and I’m tired of it. I wish I could stop watching it.

So many other people I follow on Tumblr have said they’ve either stopped or thought about stopping. By comparison, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead seemingly increase their viewership every season; the Blacklist has been NBC’s lowest-rated show in the demo for the last year, IIRC. The ratings for the Redemption spin-off were so low, the showrunners tried to pass it off as a one-off miniseries, when it was ALWAYS intended to be its own full-length show.

I understand that the show does well in DVR viewership numbers, and it was the most expensive TV show that Netflix had purchased when Season 1 was released.

But, this show continues to disappoint me. There’s hardly anything I like about it anymore. Hell, even James Spader, who’s a master at his craft, seems to be bored with it. His monologues are becoming more and more cliche, and even his amazing performances can’t save this dumpster-fire.

Its protagonist, Liz, is all over the fucking place in terms of characterization. First, she was naive and learned her “husband” had used and abused her. Then, she went to the dark side, chained him up on a boat and said she’d never forgive him for what he’d done. Then, she apparently forgave him, slept with him, had his kid, tried to remarry the guy, and then faked her death to get away with him and is now living her happy dream life with her little girl and her ‘perfect’ husband.

What happened to the dark, morally questionable, grungy Liz? What happened to the Liz who was jaded and afraid after being on the run for several weeks, or months?

She just settled down with a guy who she used to hate and she’s living the dream.

What in the literal fuck?

And, for all the time that has been invested in Liz, she has made little to no progress in her characterization these past few seasons. In fact, she’s done more of a 360. She’s right back where she started, more or less.

Why should the audience give a shit about her journey if she’s not making any progress? Why should we care that, halfway through this show, she has everything she’s ever wanted?

The side characters, like Aram, Samar, Ressler, Cooper and others are there just to serve the plot. Any time there’s a semblance of some character development or plot progression, the showrunners regress everyone back to Stage One so we can do it all over again. Aram and Samar look like they’re making progress in their possible romantic relationship? Fuck that, we’ve got to make sure Aram runs back to his abusive girlfriend and string this thing along another season! Remember when Ressler got shot, had prescription drug problems, and was in Narcotics Anonymous? Yeah, me neither.

Mr. Kaplan, who was best when she was on-screen to sass and help Reddington once every few episodes, gets pushed into the spotlight for some made-up bullshit reason that had never been discussed or hinted at previous to the “Mr. Kaplan used to work for Katarina Rostova” storyline. And while Susan Bloomaert is a fantastic and underrated actress and did her absolute best to make those scenes between her and Liz feel emotional, I didn’t really care about their dynamic at all because it felt so forced, underdeveloped, and out-of-nowhere.

Whereas the relationship that I care the MOST about – that between Red and Liz – that has been the most built-up and developed over the course of the show keeps getting thrown under the bus as Liz does the whole “love Red, hate Red, forgive Red” song-and-dance routine. She claims she agrees with Red when he tells her not to go back to Tom in Season 2… only to go back to Tom later in Season 2. She’s totally down with asking Red to help her whenever she’s a criminal on the run… but the minute her wedding gets shot up, she yells at him and says it’s his fault.

And now, as far as the Lizzington fans go, which I count myself as one of them, the show has written itself into a corner. Because all the amazing chemistry and romantic tropes throughout the show feel incredibly creepy now that Liz believes Red is her dad, regardless of whether he actually is or not. I don’t care how they try to pull themselves out of the ginormous hole they’ve dug for themselves on that one – why the hell would a woman ever end up with a guy that she once thought was her dad, even if it turned out he actually wasn’t?

And the only real way out of it is the Impostor Theory – a well-written and well-researched theory, but one that makes people have to do fucking mental gymnastics for it to work. You have to assume a lot of people like Naomi and Reddington’s former roommate from the Naval Academy who’s now an admiral, are in on it. Whereas dudes like Finch or the Director aren’t…

Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a wonderful theory and it explains a lot. But, if it ends up being true, it means one of two things:

1) The writers didn’t plan this from the beginning and lucked their way into it

OR

2) The writers DID plan this from the beginning, which means they have the ability to be really good writers, but then they fell into all this other bullshit – like Liz’s weird arc and other things – which really means that they’re not that good of writers; they just had the one good idea.

And if the Impostor Theory DOESN’T end up being true, in some form or fashion, that means that Red really IS Liz’s dad, and this whole fucking show – Red’s entire characterization, his relationship and dynamic with her – has been a lie. Canon can be throw out the window to rot in the sewer and fuck itself in the interim, because the writers don’t even care any more.

Which, I realize is unfair, because I know there are hundreds of people who work really hard to make this show happen, and while it’s not, like, the worst show of all time, the fact that it had such potential and has fallen so far, almost makes it seem worse than a show that was so bad from the beginning I never invested time in it.

And what makes it even WORSE is that the showrunners continue to act like this is the most groundbreaking show on television, and put it on a pedestal On High, along with the likes of Game of Thrones, The Americans, and The Sopranos… you know, actually good shows.

That would be the equivalent of the Taken director demanding that his movie should’ve gotten an Oscar. It’s like, you know it was a fine movie, and I had a good time watching it, but like, bring yourself back down to earth. Taken is okay, but it is NOT Oscar-worthy material, so get off your high horse, dude.

I guess, if nothing else, it shows that the showrunners, writers and actors are so talented that they got me to invest in the show to the point where I can’t not watch it, even though it’s fallen so far and I feel like it’s nowhere near as good as it used to be. They hooked me and got me to care about these characters and their dynamics so much that, even though it frustrates me week in and week out, I will still keep watching it.

It’s just that, now, I might be doing it with a bottle of vodka, taking shots every time:

Red has a monologue that proves James Spader is too damn good for this show;

Liz is bitchy to Red for little to no reason, while continuing to be lovey-dovey with Tom;

Ressler survives a fight or car accident or some other action sequence with no injuries whatsoever;

Harry Lennix is completely underused as Harold Cooper in an episode, because he only tells his employees to do the obvious… and literally nothing else;

Samar and/or Aram take a step back from getting together, despite hints that they’ve liked each other since Season 2.

So, bottoms up, Blacklist fans!

[sneakymalarkey-blog]

Top 10 Good Horror Movies to Binge-watch this Halloween

‘Tis the season for haunted dreams and loud screams! If you’re like me, who looks forward to Halloween every year, well congratulations to us. It has been a tradition to surround ourselves with things that would make our skin crawl and make us look behind us more than twice, and of course having a horror movie marathon is almost a tradition. However, most film producers seem to think that the ultimate horror movie formula is Generic Plot + Jump Scare and to be honest it’s already getting old and boring. This was what led me to explore more of the horror genre to find movies that would exceed expectations and break this chain of bad horror movies. Let me share with you these gems I found and truly treasure. (This list does not follow any particular order).

1. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Jacob’s Ladder is a horror/psychological thriller starring Tim Robbins as Jacob Singer. This is a story about a Vietnam war veteran and his struggles to return to a normal life while being plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks. Being unable to distinguish what’s real and what’s not, Jacob might be close to descending into madness. 

This movie made me feel like I was also losing my mind, and I actually had to pause the movie at times just to take a breather. The visuals, music, and atmosphere really did a good job on engaging all of my senses to the point where I had a nightmare the same night I finished it. 

This is not your typical horror movie, but still worth checking out for a brand new experience. 

2. Sinister (2012)

Sinister follows the story of Ellison Oswald (played by Ethan Hawke), a true-crime writer struggling to produce a new best-seller. An unsolved case that continues to baffle the authorities is his new target for his comeback, even moving his own family to the house where the murders happened.  Watching the video tapes of the actual murders, he slowly realizes that the murders might be involved with a supernatural force and that moving his family to that house was a fatal move. 

I just happened to see this movie on TV one night and to be honest I didn’t really have any expectations that it will be good. This movie really surprised me with how good the atmosphere and the mystery built over time. Yes, it has a couple of jump scares, but what makes it acceptable is because they did not rely on that heavily. For these reasons, Sinister will always be a standout for me and will always be a part of my horror movie recommendations. 

3. The Ring (2002)

Urban legends are nothing but some silly hearsay, right? Rachel Keller (played by Naomi Watts) thought that a videotape filled with nightmarish and unsettling clips was nothing but a circulating rumor, that is until she encounters a case about a group of teenagers dying after watching the said tape after a week. She later watches the tape to unravel its mystery with only a week to save her own life. 

The Ring is actually an American adaptation of a Japanese horror movie called “Ringu”. These kinds of adaptations are usually done wrong, but again this movie will surprise you on how it managed to still grasp what made the original scary. This is a good movie to watch with friends, so that you can all get a weird fear of televisions at the same time. 

4. Orphan (2009)

After losing their unborn child, a couple decides to go for adoption. Esther is just the perfect kid for them, having formed a special bond with them upon first meeting. However, welcoming her home seems like they also welcomed a series of unfortunate events. Is it just a coincidence or is there something wrong with Esther? 

First of all, they did a good job on casting Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther. For me it was her performance that really added to the wonder of the movie. This is not the first movie to have an adopted child as the center of the spookiness, but this is the first one to...well i’ll just let you see it for yourself. 

5. It (2017)

Who hasn’t seen this most-awaited remake of a classic Stephen King novel? It has been the talk of the town for months and there’s a good reason for that. 

It follows the story of bullied children who are terrorized by an evil shape-shifting clown. It does not only shape-shift just for the heck of it, but it actually takes the form of your deepest fears. 

This might seem like a really simple plot, but the execution of the scenes, the acting, the musical scores, and the story really add up so masterfully resulting to this great remake. It really did the 1990 TV series and the novel great justice. Shout-out to Bill Skarsgård’s portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, which really made the movie float up to number one. 

6. Halloween (1978)

What’s a more perfect way to celebrate the Halloween than to watch a movie named after the holiday? 

Halloween is about Michael Myers, a masked man who managed to escape Smith Grove’s Sanitarium to bring forth some terror on a Halloween night. He was sentenced  fifteen years for the brutal murder of his very own sister when he was just six years old. 

This movie is considered as one of the classics that will never get old, also making Michael Myers as one of the most iconic movie serial killers. Halloween was originally planned to be a series of different horror stories; however, due to Michael Myers’ popularity they decided to make the series his own. If you want to experience the thrill of being chased by a relentless masked maniac, then you should check this movie out.

7. Alien (1979)

Alien is about the crew of the commercial starship “Nostromo” and their story after waking up from cryo-sleep. On their journey home, they receive a distress call from an unknown vessel. Deciding to check out what is happening, they pay a short visit only to discover something they shouldn’t have seen or touched. 

This movie is also considered a classic and even resulted to multiple sequels. I was not a big fan of this genre and just decided to let this one slide off but boy am I glad that I did give it a shot. As if being alone in a distant space wasn’t creepy enough, the movie decides to throw in something that seems to be inescapable. Worst part is that you can’t just call the police or scream for help. 

8. Sigaw (The Echo) - (2004)

Sigaw is a Filipino horror movie that follows the story of Marvin (played by Richard Gutierrez) and his newfound freedom after moving in to an apartment of his own. At first, everything was a bliss as he enjoyed living alone; however, his neighbors’ screamy fights will start to affect him...even after moving out from the apartment building. 

To be honest, watching this movie made me uneasy because it actually did a good job on building this atmosphere where the mystery would start to engulf you. There’s a good reason why it was the official selection for a horror film festival, even earning an American adaptation entitled “The Echo”. 

9. Shutter (2004)

Shutter is a Thai movie about a vengeful ghost haunting a photographer and his girlfriend. This happened after they accidentally hit a young woman with their car, and the girlfriend thought it would be a good idea to discover more about the young woman and hopefully put an end to their hell. However, will she be ready to uncover a secret that would shake everything she believed? 

At first glance, one might say that this is your typical horror movie: ghosts, haunting, haunted pictures, etc. What makes this one stand out is the story behind the ghosts and the haunting, along with the characters’ personal issues. This is a must-watch if you want to make your friends scream and cover their eyes while enjoying a well-written horror movie.

10. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Last but not the least, we have Shaun of the Dead. This is a horror/comedy British film starring Simon Pegg as Shaun. After their town suddenly becomes overrun with zombies, Shaun struggles to save both his mother and ex-girlfriend with the ultimate plan of safety. 

Shaun of the Dead did a wonderful job on harmonizing horror and comedy into one beautiful melody. I decided to end the list with this in order to give a lighter tune to everything while still being scary. What’s in it for you when you watch this movie: great characters, good humor, suspense, zombies, and Cornetto ice cream.

___________

Despite the bad horror movies that rule the box office, there are still some really good ones that deserve so much more love than they’re currently getting. This gives me hope for the horror genre, and I’m hoping for more great horror movies to add to my collection.

Enjoy the Halloween! 

[kamizite]

Predictions and Rants. Wrestlemania 33 edition!!!

Sigh… what happened guys? If you watch the monthly podcast you know the theme of the brand split has been Smackdown has weak cards on Paper that Over perform and Raw has Strong cards on paper that underperform.  The Big joint PPVs have been decent some of them actually really good (Survivor Series) and some of them just okay (Royal Rumble).

So here we are… in Pointing Season and I have to say… I’m not feeling this years Wrestlemania. Will I still watch it?  Yeah probably but her is just a few thoughts and predictions on the upcoming card.

 Honorable Mention

 Luke Harper. As of right now he has not been entered in the Battle Royal and odds are he will be relegated to nothing or interference in the Orton/Waytt Main Event. Don’t worry Luke. I’ll be Sunday and we all will know what that really means. That you are Number 1 in our hearts.

The Smackdown Tag Team Championship The division was Dead after American alpha won Tag Team Turmoil. Ironcally that’s my favorite match type but the way the went about it just.. ug.  The SDTTD from the start has basically been NXT (Breezango individually, and Hype Bros. Vaudevillians, American Alpha, The Ascension, Rhyno and one of the Original NXTers Heath Slater)   w/ the Usos. With the exception of AA and the USO ever everyone else has been treated like Clown shoes before and after the brand split.  All that being said… they deserve a championship match at the biggest show of the year and to now be relegated as filler for the Battle Royal.

 The Precook

Alexa Bliss Vs. The World.  So if the punch line here was to have Naomi win the title in her home state… why did they give it to her at Elimination Chamber and had her surrender it the two weeks later?  Was that injury legit and they were playing it safe?  Would this “all available women on the roster” type hype better fit crowning a New Smackdown Women’s Champion at Mania then the one off Match with Becky and the shit show that followed? For that Matter, What is with the STILL “We aren’t sure what match we’re having” nonsense. Alexa deserves better than this, throw away make sure everyone get to play match. Becky Deserves better. Mickie Deserves better. The SDWD is not your filler match Danmit!  With that said, I look for Naomi or some unnamed as of yet participant to walk away.

 The Only Cruiserweights that Matter: Austin Ares vs. nEVILle Seriously.. with the possible exceptions of Jack Gallagher and THE (not A) Brian Kendrick is there any one else that matters? 205 live has been an unmitigated Disaster. The writing is horrible, they perform in front of a dead crowd after the main event of Smackdown, The Wrestling is good but the writing is shoddy. I really feels like 205 Live is better served doing it’s own thing, maybe from the NXT arena where you can get a small but enthusiastic group to help embrace these characters and will appreciate work rate. ALL that being said A Dub has returned and it’s good to see him and rightfully he’s the money match for the man that is single handedly trying to save this division.  I love Heel nEVILle. I also love that A dub is owning the crap out of being Precooked by saying that it just needed to be elevated and he’s the right guy for the job. This is the guy we needed when he debuted. On any other show I’d say the nEVILle retains so we can get a good story out of this but this is pointing season, A Dub is coming back from a pretty harsh injury and this is the show where fairytales come true. A Dub for the win.

“Has Everyone (But Luke Harper) gotten a turn to play?” Battle Royal can you tell I’m a little bitter about his exclusion from the show? Look this is an excuse to get everyone on the card. Winner it did not help Cesaro at 30, Didn’t Help  Big show at 31, and did nothing for A-Ron Corbi at 32. The fact that this battle Royal has Bruan Stowman who has been flying in the last six months and Sami freaking Zayn A.K.A. the best God dam worker on the card is criminal! CRIMINAL! I look for Stowman to win this but we’re all adults here. I don’t care, You don’t care, No body cares.

The Show Proper

In my last rant I talked about how the disrespect to Smackdown was just so apparent. A day removed from that rant, I feel even more strongly that Smackdown is being hamstrung because they are perceive in management as “The B show”. I bleed Smackdown Blue and I will always Rep for them as they are much better than the Trips and Steph show. But with that said let’s talk about

Good Brothers v. Shamsaro v. The Realest Jobbers in the Room (Competitive Lightbulb Changing Match for the Raw Tag team titles) At least the new day are in this match. I love the new day but I think they are just perfect operating as hosts and hopefully can go to smackdown and return to their heelish ways. So confession time. I thought the cop out of the Sheamus/Cesaro best of 7 series was weak sauce and I HATED the thought of them as a tag team mostly because Cesaro deserves a serious singles run. But I’m Always one to admit when I’m wrong and they have won me over. I even dig that Bourg Kick/Hart Attack Move they did a couple of weeks ago but then I’m a sucker for a Tag Team finisher.  I will Always Mark for gallows and Anderson and the E has seriously dropped the ball with them. I have to wonder if their storyline got wrecked when Finn went down with an injury and they had no clue what to do with them. You know what.. I’m also going to say it. I. HATE. Enzo and Cass. Mostly Enzo. His character is not a good person, he drags Cass down who was; months ago competing for the universal championship. He makes more trouble then he solves, and always talking about thing that I MOST CERTAINLY CAN TEACH ENZO! I CAN TEACH ALL THOSE THINGS IN YOUR MONOLOGUE! *ahem* Anyway.  The ladders is just a reason to make them the first match at mania. I’m sorry to say this but I think the Realest Jobbers In the Room are gonna walk away with their first Tag Team championship, if for any reason that this is the only match that Enzo and his no offense self can conceivably win.  

Dean Ambrose vs A-ron Corbi/Boring Crobin (take your pick) for the Intercontental Championship here’s a fun fact, the last PPV the IC belt was defended on was TLC In December with Miz and Dolph. Man remember all the hard work they put in to elevate that title after the brand split and should have rightfully been the main event of no mercy?  Also, I’m a Big dean Ambrose fan but why is it when he gets a singles belt does it suddenly not get defended. I mean he had to with the World Title but this is exactly what happened with his US title run. Again I love Ambrose, and I think this is going to be a great match. All joking aside Corbin has made himself interesting despite the writes booking him like a schmuck that couldn’t win a match against Dolph Ziggler with a broken neck (real thing that happened)  Now that they are booking him like a monster I’m interested in what he does and of course that’s when they relegate most of his stuff in the last three weeks to “Oh yeah this happened” segments between matches, talking smack, and the pay off last week where the match has been official. I think Baron is gonna walk away with the title here. He needs it for legitimacy. Plus the faces can’t win every match.

Good Friends, Better Enemies (Kevin Owens V. Chris Jericho for the US title.) This should have been for the Universal Championship. It really should have. Jericho is so good these days he’s gotten a dammed list over and with KO it was super entertaining to see them week in and out. Especially the After RAW shenanigans with the Undertaker I got to see live! I love the return to the intense prize fighter Owens and I think this match if gonna possibly be match of the night. Huh… I just realized.  Samoa Joe isn’t booked on the card.  That can’t be good for Larerell’s Favorite Wrestler. K.O. for the win and the title because this is going to become the important belt. More on that later.

Total Diva’s: The Match (Big Match John and Super Girl vs. The Marine and Mrs. The Marine for… reasons) confession time again. Last year I said the Miz needed to be a manager, that he just wasn’t cut out for Wrestling but would be a great mouth piece. It’s on youtube so I can’t act like I didn’t say it. I was wrong. I was so Wrong. The Miz has made me believe him. The Miz made the IC belt worth while. His Promos over the last 6 weeks with John Cena have been Straight Fire! (Sorry Dame Dolph Ziggler) I’m more invested in this match then any other on Smackdown’s side. Maryse was a good wrestler back in the Diva’s Era so I’m interested to see what she can bring to the table having been out of action so long. Nikki is serviceable in the ring I feel, I’m sure she has her fans. I’m not one of them but she works hard to put the best match she can and I really respect that. By all rights, Miz should… NEEDS to win this.  But it’s pointing Season and let’s be honest, You can’t Beat Super Man. Also look for John to Propose after the match. Just Sayin’.

Can someone please hold this Belt for more than 4 weeks!?! (Bailey v  Charlotte v Sasha Banks v Nia Jax Fatal Four way Elimination for the Raw Women’s championship) This feels less can everyone play but it illustrates a point. Stuff as many competitors in a Women’s Division match as you can. That’s a little harsh, I Realize but I mean.. would it Kill them to have a one on one match and put the other two in their own match? I’m just saying Smackdown’s Last PPV had three Women’s Matches. I’m a fan of all these Women, and I feel like Nia has been over looked in the division for a while if for the only reason as she feels like a Division Killer to me like Chyna, Awesome Kong, or Beth Phoenix was. Sahsa and Charolette  are always Awesome together and Throw Baily in the Mix and great stuff is bound to happen. As much as I want to say put it on Nia and settle down with the title swaps for a while, I think Bailey walks out because She is the epitome of a dream moment coming true.  

*sigh* We could have had Shawn (A.J. Styles Vs. Shane McMahon because Brock didn’t want to do it) I think it’s worse that Shawn said they offered him the match and he turned it down.  I mean. Michaels v. Styles?  Money.. just money all over. Not that I don’t Enjoy Shane-o-bump but this feels shoe horned in. I feel like when you have the best wrestler in the world you can find… you know… another wrestler for him to work with on the grandest stage of them all. That being said, Styles pulled good matchs out of Roman and Shane even in his 40’s is no slouch. But We’re all adults here. A.J. is winning. It is the only logical conclusion.

Seth Rollins vs Triple H in a Non-Sanctioned Match. There is a part of me, the part of me that will suspend my disbelief that worries that there is a nugget of truth in Rollins signing a Hold Harmless just so he doesn’t miss two straight manias. That being said, this is the logical conclusion to the turn that happened.. wow.. like three years ago. Pedigree vs (Less awesome looking) Pedigree.  You know, I know this is the Trips Vanity match and all buyt I really hope this is the last year for this because to a lesser extent I feel the same way about Rollins that I Do AJ. We could have had a better match with a full time worker here, but then when you on the Trips and Steph show and your facing Trips… I guess that’s as good as being in the world title match right? Right!?!  Anyway Trips wins with the help of Samoa Joe (he has the meats).

You don’t mess with a man’s Fries, You don’t mess with a Man’s Yard. (Roman Reigns Vs Undertaker for… the yard I guess?) So I said that Smackdown had 4 main card matches to Raw’s 6. Then I was corrected when someone pointed out that The Undertaker was a smackdown Talent so technically that’s 4.5 to 5.5.  Alright, so then… When was the last time Taker was on Smackdown? Before Survivor Series? Has this match had anything significant happen on Smack down like Roman showing up looking for Captain Black hat and Fog? No?  All of the buildup for this has been on Raw? My count still stands and that just makes me Angrier about the mistreatment of Team Blue. GOD I hope this is the end of the Roman Reigns Experiment. This needs to be His coming out party as a heel. I mean he’s main evented the last 2 wrestlemanias… and there’s a very good chance that since this is a “Crossbrand” Match with Taker that in order to not “show favoritism” to either brand that this ends up being the last match of the night. If they play this like Heel reigns finally having it with the cans and having his “The Rock joins the Nation” moment this could be pretty good. If they keep on with this “He’s So Polerizing” stuff.. this could be really bad.  I choose to be optimistic which means…. Roman win by cheating. Belee Dat!

Should Be the Main Event (Bray Wyatt Vs. Randell Q Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship) The World Heavyweight Championship is the only True World Championship. It has the lineage. It doesn’t look Ridiculous. Randell Q Orton won the Royal Rumble which (at least in the last two years) Mean you are the Main event (read: Last match) of WrestleMania. Odds are it won’t be and I’ll be honest.. besides the reasons stated above, I’m not sure it deserves to be. It’s been a long boil to this point with Randy joining the wyatts driving a wedge between Bray and Luke, and then Double crossing bray and performing Arson.  And HE’S The good guy!  I mean in the last six week things have gotten… well weird. There was the aforementioned Arson skit which Ran… like ten minutes too long with all it’s creep cuts and transition and awkward pauses. We’ve had Bray rubbing dirt and ashes all over himself.  We’ve had his version of the Druid the uh… Rowans?  Sheeple?  I don’t know what to call them. But yeah that last week. And then Randel Q. Orton last night drive a Crusix.. or whatever they called it that was on fire into the ground where he burned Bray house down. So uh… yeah. I’m gonna ignore the obvious signs and say Bray wins this.  They want him to be the New Taker he needs a big win and really He’s the Face in this match.

Will Probably Be the Main Event (Cold Beer Vs Bork Lazer for the WWE Universal Championship of the World.) Back at Survivor Series, everyone blew they lids when Cold Beer won his match in like 2 minutes. My reactions was “Because of course he did. How did I not see that coming?  THAT, is the Goldberg Match.” It was a great way to build a Wrestlmania rematch AND get Bork out of his then plans to fight Shane-o-bump. It would be the match we deserved 13 years ago at Wrestlemania 20! It would heal that eyesore of a match! Then Goldberg Won the Universal Championship. Then I got REAL over this feud, REAL fast. Goldberg in his prime was not a long match kind of guy. Goldberg now has not been in the ring for more than 5 minutes of active match time. Brock’s matchs are Suxplex, suplex suplex, hope spot, suplex suplex suplex, f5. I do not have high hopes for this match. Add to the fact both these guys are part timers and are not going to be at Every Raw PPV, Ever Raw Show, and CERTIANLY not any House shows, this cheapens an already new belt with dubious credibility. It’s one of those Rare time the Belt actually takes away my interest in the match.  Regardless… this can only end in Brock getting his win back  and if the Plan’s are to be believed of a Roman v. Brock Main event at 34, There is a good chance he might hold that belt all year. Because you know… it did so much for the other title when Brock held, and didn’t defend it last time. Unless Finn win’s it back on Raw the night after.

And… Wow… that really got away from me.  So That’s my Rant/Prediction of Wrestlemania. I know I sound like I’m pretty cynical but once I am watching it I’ll totally be into it. Because I’m a mark and I’m proud of that.

Edited: for Clarity and because of course i missed all my spelling mistakes and probably still have missed some. Oh Well.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1291

Monday, December 9, 2019

 Thank Thor for Santa's little helper. We're about as ready for Christmas as I'll ever be. Penny is leaving soon for her annual drive up north to visit family and friends while I make sure all the lights I strung don't burn down the house. I finally got around to watching the animated feature "Big Hero 6" last night and was delighted by it.

 Superman Up In The Sky #6 - Tom King (writer) Andy Kubert (pencils) Sandra Hope (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Oh man, this story has the most inept villain ever. We find out why Alice was kidnapped by an alien. I liked the trip back to Earth. Kids say the darnedest things.

 Daredevil #14 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Marco Checchetto & Francesco Mobili (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Detective Cole North is conflicted after talking about the law over coffee with Matt. Meanwhile the Police Commissioner has ordered his cops not to go into Hell's Kitchen, leading to rampant crime. It's time for the return of Daredevil and Elektra is going to be tagging along. This is going to be good.

 Young Justice #11 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Timms (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). The team is back in their home dimension and they meet Naomi for the first time. Great time for a sleepover eh. Things go south when Superboy gets punked by the S.T.A.R. Labs lady. I can't wait to see what Brian Bendis does with Mike Grell's Warlord.

 Archie #709 - Nick Spencer & Mariko Tamaki (writers) Sandy Jarrell (artist) Matt Herms (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). The 5-part story of Archie's romance with Sabrina comes to an end. I am happy with the outcome.

 Savage Avengers #8 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Patch Zircher (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I love the clash of egos in this issue. Conan dines with Doom and Stephen crashes dinner. The three then go off looking for Kulan Gath. Hey, how else is the bad guy supposed to get his all powerful amulet back? I'm guessing it's another Doombot that runs afoul of the ancient wizard because heaven forbid they kill Doctor Doom again. Don't forget Doom died outside the UN in NYC and got shot dead by Taskmaster.

 Ironheart #12 - Eve L. Ewing (writer) Luciano Vecchio (art) Geoffo (layouts) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The good guys beat the bad guys and Wakanda is saved. The End. I've followed Riri Williams since she was first created by Brian Michael Bendis and I am sad that she will no longer have her own book on the racks. The crew that put out these twelve issues did Brian proud.

 Web of the Black Widow #4 - Jody Houser (writer) Stephen Mooney (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's a wounded Widow that opens this issue and we find out how that happens. Clint/Hawkeye the hothead acts before he has all the facts and Natasha pays the price. She winds up dead to rights and possibly dead period. I know she'll save herself and I want to see how she does it.

 Batman #84 - Tom King (writer) Jorge Fornes (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). There are a mind boggling number of flashbacks this issue trying to explain what the ding dong heck is going on. It all leads to the confrontation of father and son with Thomas and Bruce Wayne fighting for the fate of Batman. I don't think everything is going to change after Tom King leaves this book but man, is he ever stirring the pot.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #35 - Nick Spencer (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Steve Firchow (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is the story where Doctor Doom was assassinated in front of the UN. Now the real Doctor Doom is pissed and has shut down New York City until the assassin is brought to him. Spider-Man finds the culprit with the help of his sister Theresa. They try to trick Victor in the end but he doesn't fall for it. It's a classic cliffhanger ending.

 Doctor Doom #3 - Christopher Cantwell (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). So this Doc Doom is different from the one in The Amazing Spider-Man #35 even though they were both shot to start a war between Latveria and Symkaria. This is the real one. I really liked how Victor makes Mephisto his whipping boy. The surprise ending made me groan. And that's not to mention the inconsistency between panels 2 and 4 on page one. Very bad editing.

 Marauders #3 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Michele Bandini (pencils) Michele Bandini & Elisabetta D'Amico (inks) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This X-book is for fans of political intrigue. The Black King, Sebastian Shaw inducts his resurrected son Shinobi into the Hellfire Club. Consider this X-Men: Game of Thrones. This is a lot more interesting than watching Kitty sail around rescuing other mutants.

 Lois Lane #6 - Greg Rucka (writer) Mike Perkins (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Wow if the funeral for (spoiler alert) Alfred is as well done as this funeral for Lois's father it will be well worth the read. Lois has come a long way since she first appeared in comic books.

 Annihilation - Scourge Fantastic Four #1 - Christos Gage (writer) Diego Olortegui (pencils) Juan Vlasco, Cam Smith & Scott Hanna (inks) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). The team goes to the Negative Zone to help fight the scourge from the Cancerverse and encounter the Ftaghn Four, infected versions of themselves. I knew it was a ftaghn bad idea to read these one shots. The art was nice though.

 20XX #1 - Jonathan Luna & Lauren Keely (writers) Jonathan Luna (art & letters). This new black & white book takes place in a future where a deadly virus either kills you or gives you special mind control powers if you survive. Survivors are designated Syms and are monitored by the government like sex offenders. It is illegal to use your powers so Syms have to be careful. Meria Bree Moore is a recent Sym and this is her story. I have yet to be disappointed by anything Jonathan Luna has done and this is no exception. Rest assured that I will want to read the rest of this story.

 Black Cat #7 - Jed MacKay (writer) Travel Foreman (art) Brian Reber (colours) Ferran Delgado (letters). This is an excellent issue where Felicia rescues the Fox from the clutches of Odessa. Unfortunately the inconsistent art was very distracting. They should have found an inker to render Travel's pencils.

 Batman Universe #6 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Nick Derington (art) Dave Stewart (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). I liked how Batman used deductive reasoning to get out of his white prison. It could have been an uh-oh situation when Vandal Savage gets his hands on the White Power Ring but he was set up to fail quite cleverly. I've noticed that there's always an "AGH" in every comic book that Brian writes and when Bruce Wayne asks the Riddler where Vandal Savage, AKA Vandar Adg is I had to say "har".

 Conan Serpent War #1 - Jim Zub (writer) Scot Eaton (pencils) Scott Hanna (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) Vanesa R. Del Rey (art: James Allison sequence) Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours: James Allison sequence) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Conan must face the serpent god Set but this time he's going to be teamed up with other heroes. There's Moon Knight, Solomon Kane and Dark Agnes (because another company has the rights to Red Sonja I'm sure). Jim writes in a style similar to Robert E. Howard so this was an enjoyable read. The art isn't bad and I liked the homage to Barry Smith with Conan's horned helmet and necklace. Let's see how many times the Cimmerian exclaims "by Crom" in this story.

 Thor: The Worthy #1 - This one-shot would be right at home on the racks in the nineteen seventies. There are three tales of others who have been deemed worthy of wielding the hammer.

 "Beyond the Field We Know…" by Walt Simonson (writer) Mike Hawthorne (pencils) Sal Buscema (inks) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) & John Workman (letters) has Beta Ray Bill teamed up with the Lady Sif to fight a rock troll. I forgot that those two were romantically linked in the past.

 "Hearts of Stone, Feet of Clay" by Tom DeFalco (writer) Ron Frenz (plot & pencils) Keith Williams (inks) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) & VC's Clayton Cowles (letters) features Eric Masterson as Thunderstrike versus the Grey Gargoyle. This tale was cheesy with the inclusion of the police strike force Code: Blue. They tried to give it a modern twist by having a lesbian couple in the story.

 And finally "Rules of Reflection" by Kathryn Immonen (writer) Tom Reilly (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours) & VC's Clayton Cowles (letters) sees the Lady Sif figuring out that the new female Thor is really Jane Foster. It's in the last words Sif says to Thor in the last panel of the second to last page. Har.

 X-Men #3 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan & Leinil Francis Yu (inks) Sunny Gho & Rain Beredo (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I've been waiting for new super villains to show up to challenge the X-Men and this issue delivers. Meet the not so helpless little old ladies of Hordeculture, average age 71. Agrochemist Augusta Bromes, bioengineer Opal Vetiver, geneticist Lily Leymus and botanical engineer Edith Scutch. They want to return planet earth to it's pristine Garden of Eden condition by eliminating most of humanity. I like them.

 Annihilation - Scourge Nova #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Ibraim Roberson (art) Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This was better than the FF one-shot that hit the racks at the same time. I got a few chuckles catching up with Richard Rider. You don't even have to know anything about this cosmic super hero because the first three pages explain his entire existence up to this point. My enjoyment of this made me want to check out the Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill one-shots that will hit the racks December 11.

[jayfromriverside-blog]

Comics I read this week: 9/9-9/13

Hey all, here’s a smattering of some of the books I read this week. Some interesting issues out this week, but also some disappointments:

Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers #23

There were two driving forces behind my moral development as a child: Batman and the Power Rangers. It was more than a little disappointing to grow up and find out that you couldn’t just punch bad people and that solved things, but when Boom Studios started this Power Rangers comic, it reminded me of why I loved the Power Rangers in the first place.

I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who was a fan of the Rangers at any point, or who is looking for a good new Action book, but it comes with a caveat: This series is not easy to jump into, for 2 main reasons.

Though this is the better series, it’s not the first Power Rangers comic that Boom Studios currently has going, and unfortunately the first series goes further in depth on the larger Rangers Universe

The stories from each of the 2 Rangers books often reference or call back to elements from each other. This often means that keeping track of plot elements or continuity can get confusing between the 2 books if you’re not following along closely.

If you’re still interested in hopping into these comics, here would be the reading order I would suggest: start with this series (Go Go) for issues #1-20, as it covers the origins of the Rangers and their first year. Then start the mainline book, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. After you’re all caught up there, you should be good to jump back into Go Go without any issues, and can even hop between series with toooooo much confusion. 

Into the actual meat of this week’s issue: while the mainline series is much more focused on a grander Sci-Fi narrative, this series has a lot of the “monster-of-the-week” feel of the show. That’s definitely on display in this issue, where action and monster bashing take center stage. But what this comic has over the show is character depth and long-term story telling. The characters in this comic feel fleshed out and are evolving like real people, and while it’s definitely still fun, it doesn’t skimp out on the drama either. 

If you’re looking for a fun throwback to childhood with a little more emotional oomph for your mature soul, definitely give this book a go.

Justice League Odyssey #13

I’m genuinely surprised every time a new edition of this book comes out, cause I’m half expecting it to be quietly cancelled every other week. But hey, I’m not gonna complain, cause as much as the changes in art have been less than great, I’m still excited to see the Justice League Z-Team struggle with cosmic cleanup duty out in the Ghost Sector.

For anyone who hasn’t read this book and doesn’t feel like starting from the beginning, you could get away with hopping on now. It would be safe to say that the first 12 issues were the first arc of this comic, and that #13 is setting the groundwork for the second big arc. With the destruction of the Source Wall way back in No Justice, the Ghost Sector has been left as almost a wild-West out in deep space. If you’re a fan of Dex-Starr, Jessica Cruz and some other cosmic outcast characters, I’d hop on now and see if this book is for you.

For anyone currently reading this book, some minor opinions and SPOILERS AHEAD:

So Jess stayed dead for way shorter than even I thought. But hey, revival at the hands of the Omega Radiation that killed her only to be imbued with Omega Beam shooting fists seems almost poetic. I’m interested to see what the new cast of outcasts has to bring to the table in terms of opposing Darkseid and assaulting the Ghost Sector, especially now that our original team has been almost entirely converted into NEW New Gods. But it’s a welcome evolution of Jessica’s character to see her taking charge and leading a team, and more Dex-Starr in my life is always appreciated. 

On a less story focused note, the art in this new ark is good so far, but man, fuck whoever did the flashback sequence with Cyborg. On a page with his face popping up at least 5 or 6 times head on, you couldn’t remember or decide if his cybernetic side was on the left or the right? It flip flops every panel so that it’s facing away from the reader. It’s overall a minor thing, but c’mon, it’s not hard to keep that straight.

The Flash #78

I’m just tired at this point. 

The Flash’s mythos being re-written to have such an emphasis on the forces is just... really boring. The force users are pretty one-note characters and though Barry’s musings on life and trying to outrun Death are interesting, the rest of the chapter and this story arc haven’t been nearly as much. The art isn’t bad, but it’s not enough to save this title. If you’re gonna stick around for the Flash ride, have fun, let me know when it gets interesting again.

Young Justice #8

I think I mentioned it last week, but similar to Justice League Odyssey and the Terrifics, I think it’s a great idea for writers to take some of the smaller teams in the DCU out of the greater narrative and put them (effectively) in their own worlds. Better yet, Brian Michael Bendis seems to be having a ton of fun taking this young team on a multiverse-exploring adventure. 

While his work with Alias and Daredevil are some of my favorite books, I think Bendis does his best work when writing younger heroes. He seems to understand how to write entertaining young characters while making them believable, and most importantly not making them grating. 

If you need anymore convincing to get this series, and you maybe don’t fully trust Bendis after the pretty terrible years he’s had of late, then John Timms’ art should swing you. Timms has managed to strike a great balance between cartoonish modeling and dynamic action paneling which is difficult enough, but he’s also been switching up his art styles as the team goes from world to world. The guy is on top of his game right now and it’s perfectly complimenting Bendis’ universe-hopping story.

I don’t want to spoil this issue too much, but the team find themselves on Earth-3, the home of the Crime Syndicate, and face off against evil versions of themselves. While this issue was wall-to-wall action from the start, it managed to have some good character moments peppered throughout, and it looks like it might the start of the next micro-arc. This book has been great so far and only looks like it’s going to get better.

Batman Universe #3

I feel like I can’t judge this book fairly. 

I love pop-art, I’m a sucker for a good Batman story, and lighthearted superhero stories are exactly what I need to breakup the self-serious tones of a lot of the other superhero books I read. This book by Bendis and Nick Derington hits every single one of those beats. 

If you’re looking for a self-serious Batman book you’re looking in the wrong place; but if you’re looking for a book where Batman jokes with Green Lantern about how much he likes dinosaurs before being transported through time, then you’ve got a lot of fun ahead of you.

On a side note, DC put a huge amount of faith in Bendis giving him this series, Action Comics, Superman, Naomi and Young Justice. Aside from the main Superman book, which has been horrendous in every sense of the word, he’s been writing some of the best stuff he’s done in years. Not quite on par with his Daredevil or Ultimate Spider-Man runs, but still some really great stuff.

Detective Comics #1011

Last we left the Caped Crusader, he and a bunch of his billionaire friends were stranded on an island, with Bruce teamed up with a pair of crotchety WWII fighter pilots and his rich friends held captive by Deadshot. Basically we’re in a “Deadliest Game” scenario with Batman and Deadshot hunting each other on a remote island. It’s kind of like all the parts of “Arrow” that people have told me are actually good. I don’t know, I haven’t watched that show, it looks like hot garbage. 

Anyway, this 2-issue story was always just a stop-gap while Mr. Freeze (or the writers) figured out how to use the new technology boost from Lex Luthor. While I always appreciate a visit from Deadshot, as he’s one of Batman’s more under appreciated villains in my opinion, this story was pretty paint by numbers. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, just that it was always the stuff coming next that felt more compelling. 

Event Leviathan #4

This book has been pretty interesting so far, but seems to have the fanbase pretty divided. I’ve seen a lot of comments on the latest issue claiming that nothing has actually happened in this story so far, and that we’re just watching Bendis spin his gears in search of a story. Maybe I’m a sucker for a good noir, but I would say that this story has had its share of action at the start, but unlike a lot of comics, it’s a slow burn story. I’m not nervous yet, as Bendis has experience with noir and has shown he can do it well.

I’m not saying that this book doesn’t have its problems: the art, while objectively impressive, is hard to parse out the details in some of the darker scenes with all of the texture filters thrown over it. Similarly, though I have faith that Bendis has an idea where this story is going, the last issue didn’t really make a ton of sense (until a little later in this issue, but at the time it wasn’t wholly believable).

Batman #78

It seems that so many people have soured on Tom King at this point that I’m in the minority saying that I’m still enjoying his run on Batman. I’m not saying it hasn’t been without its faults, I was gutted just like everyone else when issue 50 came out and tore a chance at tangible change in the Bat-universe out from under us fans. But King’s writing and storytelling, though self-indulgent at times, has been largely good and in clear pursuit of a single goal: to tell the story of Batman being broken, like he’s never been broken before. 

As fans we need to remember that the man was handed the reins to 100 issues of Batman and said he was going to tell 1 story. Not an event that would inform the rest of his run, but 1 singular story told over 100 issues. It was a herculean task and it was always going to be a slow burn, but we’re in the endgame now with City of Bane in full swing and Batman just beginning to look up from the pit he’s fallen in. He’s been physically and emotionally broken, shamed himself in front of his family and been discredited amongst his peers, and ultimately forced out of his own city. So let’s see the way back.

Ok, so this wasn’t a bad issue, but it wasn’t the right issue. I’m a huge fan of how Tom King has written Bat/Cat, and when combined with Clay Manpi’s art and paneling this issue feels like I’m watching a classic James Bond movie. But while watching Bat/Cat reconcile their issues that originally tore them apart was long overdue and felt great, this was not the right time for this issue. 

After being left on the cliffhanger of Damion being captured and ALFRED POTENTIALLY KILLED, seeing Bat and Cat talking at an island retreat was just too far removed and casual. This has probably been the biggest issue I’ve personally had with King’s run: timing. But it seems like it’s all kicking off in the next few issues, so let’s see where this all finally ends.

[getseriouser]

20 THOUGHTS: Bald-headed flog

CARLTON are on the winners list.

A rare victory last week and all of a sudden the aroma of optimism reeks again down at Princes Park.

But to those who could see, despite the roof being open, it appeared they were playing Fitzroy. The Roys haven’t won a game in 20 years so I don’t want to read too much into it for the Blues.

Although, on a serious note, how good was that jumper – and we’ll touch on that shortly.

Let’s go.

1.       Let’s not get bogged down in the umpire abuse-fan eviction on Saturday. If we had endless instances of similar incidents, sure, but it’ll be a one-off stuff up with an overly power-tripped security guard, and for anyone whose been out after dark the last 100 years we know that situation all too well. Nothing to see here. It’s just fodder for talkback radio.

2.       Speaking of crowds though, lets address booing. Firstly, Cricket World Cup, Steve Smith and David Warner will cop it, especially in 12 days time when the Aussies have England, let alone the Ashes in two months, I wouldn’t have thought it was an issue, but how good was Virat Kohli? Walks over, mid-innings, to the Indian fans giving Smith shit on the boundary, and requests they 180 their behaviour to clap the former-Aussie captian instead. That’s massive class. Virat Kohli – a Buy.

3.       And given it will not go away up until and then after Channel Ten airs it probably around August – the Adam Goodes doco. Apparently its very confronting and its nothing but evoking total remorse and guilt from those who watch and feel somewhat responsible. And no question, its horrible someone felt that way about the end of a stellar career.

 However, the Sunday Footy Show, a reasonably conservative, knockabout program who are happy to have strong onfield opinion but very rarely venture outside of that, were unanimous in their view on the infamous booing. Billy Brownless suggested some of the booing might have been racist, but the majority wasn’t. The rest of the panel agreed. So either that’s properly racist television or there’s massive divide this doco will create and not unity.

 Disappointing.

 4.       We mentioned Fitzroy, bloody hell that’s a sharp jumper. We like that Brisbane decided to wear Fitzroy colours for Melbourne games, and that on the day of the Hall of Fame dinner they donned a one-off Roys replica. But why can’t there be an annual ‘Fitzroy’ game at worst, that if you’re going to call all old-school Fitzroy folk to a game once a year, that’s the game, and really Fitzroy it up, make sure you acknowledge what until 1996 was a properly historical, important and beloved inner-Melbourne club…. Up the Roys!

5.       And same for Sydney. For example, they play Essendon Saturday the 6th of July at the MCG. Wear an old South jumper that day and engage the huge Melbourne-based Bloods supporter base and get some good back in the footy. Crowds and booing will be less an issue if there’s good stuff like that going on. Bloody hell.

6.       As for other stuff we don’t like – the score review. Now, the NRL has its bunker, the NHL has its centralised room in Toronto, a lot of leagues have these sorts of systems. But the technology and process is only as good as the organic organisms watching the vision. There was nothing wrong with the technology at the Collingwood-Freo game, nor on the weekend gone with Richmond-Geelong. It was the moron entrusted with and then pressing the buttons. If the bunker prevents the morons, I’m in, otherwise solve that issue first Gillon.

7.       Luke Shuey, Elliott Yeo and Shannon Hurn. Unless all three blokes are playing, and are unencumbered, the Eagles can win flags. But if they miss any or if someone’s got the hard tag on one of them – they’re trash. Look at their losses this year, utter dogs breakfasts. In hindsight Sydney were morals on the weekend given Hurn and Yeo missed, and whilst Shuey looked brilliant he was a lone hand with about 21 passenger mates. Kennedy is no good if Yeo doesn’t play. Gaff looks like a waste of time if Hurn isn’t playing. And so on. The underbelly is ripe for the taking with the reigning premier, don’t get sucked in.

8.       Called Patrick Naish last week and in a crap game for the Tigers he looked pretty good. He is an absolute keeper for that footy club, the father-son once again a brilliant innovation this league can be proud of.

9.       Gotta mention Ash Barty in the first half of this column, surely. I know, I went with Chris Naish’s boy first but don’t get bogged down in the detail. Yes, a softish draw, only copped one seed the whole way or something, but other than Serena or maybe world no.1 Naomi Osaka there’s probably no-one better than her at the moment, which is fantastic. And her best surface is grass – if only there’s a Grand Slam upcoming that would suit…. Well done Ash, bloody good on you!

10.   Whilst we’re hijacking the middle of this with tennis – Roger Federer. Now he is seen as the GOAT. However, there’s a bloke whose won 24 of 39 head to head contests with Fed, won 10 of 13 times they’ve met in a Grand Slam and six of nine times in Grand Slam finals, is four years younger and only two Grand Slam titles behind. So if Federer is the greatest of all time, and Rafa Nadal is better than him, then……?

11.   Back to footy – Patrick Cripps. I’ve said Nat Fyfe is the best player in the comp, but gee, I can barely get the burnt matchstick between those two, both big-bodied country boys from regional WA. Cripps won that game for Carlton on the weekend basically on his own, credit to Sam Walsh for his impact too. But it was essentially Cripps v Brisbane and the former got up, an absolute gem.

12.   Chuck in Charlie Curnow who’s as good a centre-half-forward under 23 we’ve seen for a while, this footy club will win plenty more in good time. So any heat on SOS’s position, that he should feel the squeeze, no thanks, he has done as good a job as most in his role.

13.   How are the Dees fans with 6-6-6 right now? How’s the irony in that, the devil’s number itself is pretty much the main reason for the Demons shit season after a Prelim last year. Melbourne was strong in starting extra men in defence and running through, and now with teams holding their structure longer they’re re-working from scratch what made them good last year.

14.   Jake Lever and Steven May make the footy side look so much better though, but their impact is far too late for it to bear fruit in 2019. So that’s a bit of bad luck and it needs to soften the fallout for Melbourne come the end of the season. This is all not doom and gloom, the team that won two finals last year hasn’t fallen in a complete heap – you don’t call this year a write off, sure, but it’s not a totally accurate reflection of where they’re at.

15.   Geelong, wow, could not be going any better. One loss to the third best team in the comp aside it’s a blemish-free first half of the season. But the 2007 Cats, who reigned supreme like few other sides, even they had some stumbles that year so for the 2019 edition this team will have some hiccups along the way no question. The query is will it be soon enough or have they gone too hot too early, clubs can work them out and by the Spring they haven’t the time or personnel to adjust?

16.   Good news at St Kilda. Jack Steven is back and is training. Jake Carlisle, yes, remember  him, he trained too and he will play VFL this weekend for Sandy. He will join Dan Hannebery and Max King who both are finding touch and both are likely to debut for the Saints after the bye. It’s all looking much better all of a sudden down at Moorabbin.

17.   Good news too at West Coast – Nic Naitanui looks like playing WAFL next weekend, so his return isn’t far away and his impact upon doing so is the catalyst for the Eagles back-to-back prospects.

18.   Brayden Sier is one of the most important mids down at Collingwood and his return was timely. This was becoming a team that wasn’t winning enough of the tough ball and starting to suffer at clearances, despite having the game’s number one ruckman. The kid had four clearances but critically laid a game-high nine tackles and had too a game-high seven inside 50s from his 23 touches. Adam Treloar was best on ground, but Brayden Sier was more important.

19.   State of Origin, the best prime time TV all year Wednesday last week. Shame the next one is in Perth, and it’ll be rugby league players on show and not Fyfe and Cripps and Franklin and Naitunui and Tom Mitchell and….. you get the picture.

20.   And lets finish with ice hockey – today the St Louis Blues won the city’s first Stanley Cup defeating the Boston Bruins in the winner-takes-all Game 7. And the message here for Carlton fans is clear, not only do they share a moniker with the new NHL champions, but the optimism for resurgence is there for all to see. The Blues, of the hockey variety, were dead last in the competition on January 3, roughly halfway through the season. 31st of 31. But got going late January, made inroads, shot up the standings and created an irresistible momentum into the playoffs. From there, as the form team, they were hard to beat. Great comeback story.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1285

Monday, October 28, 2019

 An Ottawa elected MP had a derogatory four letter word spray painted on the window of her campaign office last week and I hope they catch the person who did it. I've got a c-word to describe that person: COWARD. More and more of these intolerant types have been crawling out from under their rocks these days and they need to be exposed for their wretched ways. Our democratic society seems to be under attack with some of our so-called leaders fanning the flames of racism and hatred. It's not pretty right now and it concerns me.

 Action Comics #1016 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Szymon Kudranski (art) Brad Anderson (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). It's a big fight between Superman and the Red Cloud and it looks like Supes was going to lose. Brian Bendis uses his newest creation to help save the day. Way to go Naomi. He's got his own Bendis-verse going now.

 Batman Superman #3 - Joshua Williamson (writer) David Marquez (art) Alejandro Sanchez (colours) John J. Hill (letters). I'm still waiting to see what evil plans the Batman Who Laughs has for the multiverse. Things in the DCU are getting complicated what with Year of the Villain possibly crossing over with the Leviathan event. Try to keep up folks.

 Detective Comics #1014 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Christian Alamy, Mark Irwin & Doug Mahnke (inks) David Baron (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Mr. Freeze successfully resurrects his dead wife Nora. Now they both look like a couple of Smurfs. Batman is being spread really thin in the DCU right now but I'm loving having all these great stories to read.

 Contagion #4 - Ed Brisson (writer) Damian Couceiro (art) Veronica Gandini (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's the penultimate issue and sure enough, the villain is a-winnin'. I've come this far, so all I need to do is find out how the heroes win in the end.

 Punisher Kill Krew #4 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Juan Ferreyra (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Punisher comics are pretty basic. They show Frank Castle killing bad guys. I like that he's got help from weird teammates in this story. The last Frost Giant on the list proves to be the hardest to kill and, uh-oh, Frank is in deep doo-doo. So it's Franklin Nelson to the rescue. I told you he's got weird help.

 The Amazing Mary Jane #1 - Leah Williams (writer) Carlos Gomez (art) Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Face it Tiger, I just hit the jackpot. The glamorous redhead gets her own Spider-Man spin-off book and it looks like she's a costumed crime fighter in blue spandex. Psyche. She's shooting a super hero movie. The Director is a shock and the guys that are going to crash the set next issue might be overkill but this was fun so I'm going to keep reading. Plus MJ looks hot in her jammies.

 The Immortal Hulk #25 - Al Ewing (writer) German Garcia (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours) with Joe Bennett (pencils) Ruy Jose (inks) Paul Mounts (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I thought this $5.99 US anniversary issue was misprinted because there's no hide nor hair of the Hulk for pages and pages. I'm reading about some alien named Par%l flying hir (sic) spaceship home. What the fork? My patience was rewarded by issue's end with the final page reveal of the next adversary for the Hulk.

 Editorial interlude while I'm thinking about it: I think Marvel is keeping the Legacy Numbers going so that they can exploit their titles more often with higher priced issues. The more expensive The Immortal Hulk #25 is also Legacy #742. That means it will be #750 in 8 issues when Marvel can hit you up for more money again when that issue hits the racks. I think that's very nefarious.

 Marauders #1 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Matteo Lolli (art) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This new X-Team is lead by Kate "Kitty" Pryde and their mission is to rescue any mutants from places that didn't want to recognise Krakoa. Lockheed, Storm, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Bishop and Pyro appear in this issue and I'm sure more mutants will grace these pages later. This book didn't turn me off so I'll keep reading it.

 King Thor #2 - Jason Aaron (writer) Esad Ribic (art) Ive Svorcina (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). It's King Thor and Loki versus Gorr the God of God Butchers. There sure is a lot of darkness here. I have a funny feeling that it's going to be the Girls of Thunder that will save the universe.

 Valkyrie #4 - Al Ewing & Jason Aaron (writers) Cafu (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This writing duo is killing it for me. I loved the scenes with Mephisto and the Grim Reaper. The master manipulator's latest scheme is very clever and convoluted but it means that Valkyrie must die. Uh-oh. Doctor Strange guest stars.

 Avengers #25 - Jason Aaron (writer) Stefano Caselli (art) Jason Keith with Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Marvel made a liar out of me. This wasn't a higher priced anniversary issue but it sure read like one. The "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" ends with Robby winning and the throne of Hell unoccupied. Johnny Blaze fades into the muck and Lobo, I mean Cosmic Ghost Rider rides off into space. I'm surprised Marvel didn't exploit Avengers fans this time. The last few pages introduce the next story where we will meet the Avengers of one million BC. I hope the bad guy isn't Kang.

 The Amazing Spider-Man #32 - Nick Spencer (writer) Patrick Gleason (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is a good news, bad news issue for me. It's the start of a big cross-over event that involves time travel as Miguel/Spider-Man 2099 wakes up in the present looking for Peter Parker/The Amazing Spider-Man. That's the bad news. The good news is that artist Patrick Gleason is drawing this book now. I really liked his art for DC and he's the reason that I'm not benching this book. More bad news is that the mystery of who is Kindred is being put on the back burner. This 2099 story will finish off the year with 13 tie-in titles. That'll put a strain on Spidey fans' wallets.