Another new song from Wake the Devil, featuring former members of The Thirsty Crows! Hell yeah!
Crap! Didn't realize Plague House was only going four issues! This saddens me a bit, however, Oni Press's strength this year has been precision. Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm's super violent spin on the haunted house/ghost hunter trope is another in what is becoming a sizable line of quality mini-series for the company in 2025, and I'm hoping that leads to another round of the same in 2026.
With my shop in the process of integrating a new, post-Diamond POS and Pull system, G.I. JOE ARAH is going down as a pull. I've been reading it since Skybound and Image brought Hama and crew back last year, but never put it down on my actual list simply because, after not reading it since issue 116 or something, I had missed A LOT. Also, not sure I'll ever feel compelled to fill in that gap. But when Skybound said, "Issue 300 is a great jumping-on point for new or returning readers," they were not kidding. There have been a lot of changes in the book I've watched from afar for years (Lady Snake Eyes?), but as I should have expected, Hama handles it all with deft plotting and fantastic character development, and I am really enjoying this run.
And really, this is only scratching the surface! I love the focus on media and community that The Dread Broadcast are applying to the show and cannot recommend this one enough!
That's not usually what happens in 2025 though, on either a macro or micro scale (because as we know from the Gnostics, the one reflects the other). A reminder then, to greet adversity with a smile and an open mind. Yeah, that sounds a bit unrealistic or woo woo, but it's true.
NCBD:
Small Pull this week. After the last few and my trip to Amazing Fantasy in Chicago last weekend, my wallet thanks me!
Watch:
I had a BLAST taking part in the June Dread Broadcast Horror Discussion Panel!
Tim and John are really curating something special, with an emphasis on community. So many great recommendations! Talk about overwhelming. If you're on IG, follow all these folks!
A couple things I added to my list thanks to the other panelists that I'm most excited about are:
Bark, a 2023 film from Director Marc Schölermann and writer Steve Fauquier:
Brian McAuley's 2022 Slasher-adjacent novel Curse of the Reaper:
And Criterion's release of the Criterion release of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1932 atmospheric film Vampyr (currently $19.99 during Barnes and Noble's Criterion sale):
Playlist:
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World Songs of Rodney Crowell
Pixies - The Night the Zombies Came
Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
The Jesus Lizard - Liar
Young Widows - Power Sucker
Melvins - Thunderball
Christopher Young - Sinister OST
Perturbator - Age of Aquarius (pre-release singles)
Hangman's Chair - Saddiction
Ty Segall - Possession
Wake the Devil - Snake Eyes (single)
Wake the Devil - Eternally Under Your Spell (single)
Dávila 666 - Eponymous EP
Melvins - Tarantula Heart
Chelsea Wolfe - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Botch - We Are the Romans
Greg Puciato - Fc5n EP
Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn
Dreamkid - Daggers
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XVII: The Star
• Knight of Swords
• King of Swords
Conflict leads to enlightenment. And isn't that the way conflict should work? I mean, as humans, there's always going to be conflict. Paths converge, and not always in a complementary fashion. But what should occur in the wake of that is conversation, growth, enlightenment, empathy and understanding.
That's not usually what happens in 2025 though, on either a macro or micro scale (because as we know from the Gnostics, the one reflects the other). A reminder then, to greet adversity with a smile and an open mind. Yeah, that sounds a bit unrealistic or woo woo, but it's true.
