Fear John Cale!

This past Monday morning, a text from a good friend put John Cale's 1974 album Fear back on my radar, and I have to say, I'm not sure how I've gone so long since last listening to this. This ended up setting up a whole "70s NY" day on the stereo. I needed it!

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NCBD:

Big Pull. Let's go:

Dreadnok War Part 2! Already! I either didn't realize or forgot this book was going bi-weekly for the duration of this event. An event which, might I add, is off to a really good start. As Mike Shin and I talked about on a recent Drinking with Comics, Issue 13 was easily the best issue of the Energon Universe's G.I.JOE title to date. Hope they keep it up!

This one started strong but really suffered during the middle, so I'm hoping the story will come back around again at the end. I love the art, but it limits how the story is unfurled. There is a lot of "You're telling me everything, but I want you to SHOW ME!"

I find the unrelenting pace of Larazus: Fallen almost intimidating at this point! Hahaha. Seriously, I'm spending November reading the three Criminal Deluxe Editions, but I may make Lazarus my re-read project in December or January. Can't wait to catch up!

The first issue of this was fantastic, so I'm excited to see where it goes. I believe I read this won't be an issue-to-issue series, but rather it will jump around and chronicle High Strangeness across the 20th-century American landscape.

The Laphams have me hooked on their small-town, Southwestern Crime story. 

One of the VIP titles of 2025, Michael Walsh, James Tynion and friends have crafted one helluva bloody good time with Exquisite Corpses. 

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Watch:

Not much in the way of movie news lately, or at least nothing I care about. Here's a trailer for Edward G. Ulmer's 1945 Noir Detour.

I discovered this one last year for Noirvember and just had my second viewing the other night. A nice, tight little Noir with all the elements you've come to expect from the genre. Ulmer's not reinventing the wheel here, but that's not really what Noir is about. If we want that, we fast forward to Neo Noirs. Or how about, Sci Fi Neo Noirs?

I cracked Ridley Scott's Blade Runner out after watching Chinatown this past weekend. It just seemed like the perfect follow-up to Polanski's film. This film still feels fresh and beautiful. Only one problem, and I'm looking at Warner Bros home releasing as the guilty party. Ever heard of DVD rot? I have the Blade Runner Ultimate Edition 5 Disc collection, and when I went to fire up the disc with the US and UK Theatrical cuts, the Anti-Piracy statement came up, and then literally nothing else.

Okay, fine. I moved on to the version I usually watch, the Final Cut. I made it to Roy's arrival at JF Sebastian's place and the disc stopped. 

AHHHH!!! I looked this up online and found that there are apparently a lot of issues with DVD Rot Warner Bros. discs produced from 2006-2008. The Ultimate Edition came out in 2007, so this puts what was once a fairly expensive set squarely in the affected timeline.

Fucking Warner Bros! I LOVE the packaging on this one, so this hurts. Thinking I'm going to suss out any issues with the remaining discs, then try and find a Blu-ray copy and just transfer those discs into this package. That said, if the Blu-rays were also manufactured in 2007, well, am I just setting myself up for future failure? Why does this shit have to be so difficult!

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Playlist:

John Cale - Fear

Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Roxy Music - Eponymous

Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Iggy Pop - The Idiot

Television - Marquee Moon

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Live 1977-1979

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

The Cramps - Stay Sick

Failure - Fantastic Planet

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure

Ministry - HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES

Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Nine of Swords

• II: High Priestess

• Queen of Pentacles

Conflicting Wills can be assuaged with nurturing. Those who oppose you do not have to be your enemy.

So nice when these are so blatantly on the nose.

First Knight of Noirvember

 

Continuing the Noir theme for November, I can't think of a more Noir track than Barry Adamson's The Big Bamboozle, from 1993's Oedipus Schmoedipus.

 

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Watch:

I continued Noirvember this past weekend with a handful of first-time watches. First up, Fritz Lang's 1953 The Big Heat.

This one knocked my socks off. Glen Ford is absolutely fantastic in the role of Sgt. Dave Bannion and a young Lee Marvin chew up the scenery and spit it out on your shoes, man! Everyone here is a hard case, and it works because they all really inhabit that space and energy. Some of the violence shocked me a bit for '53, and overall, there's just such a nihilistic tone that the black-and-white cinematography feels etched into the screen as it moves. I'll definitely be adding this to the collection at some point, although, having watched this on the Criterion Channel, I would have assumed they put out a BR. That does not seem to be the case.

Next up, one I've heard about forever. Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour, from 1945.

Once nearly lost, Detour is considered an important film by the historical archives. Tom Neal plays Al Roberts, a frustrated nightclub piano man whose girlfriend leaves him in NYC for dreams of stardom in Hollywood. Eventually, Al decides to follow by hitchhiking across the states. He makes it as far as Arizona, then ends up embroiled in a pretty dicey situation he can't help but make worse with every decision he makes. Constantly giving him more slack for the noose is Ann Savage as the enigmatic Vera. Damn folks, this dame is merciless!

The chemistry here is fantastic, and at one hour and six minutes,  Detour is a short film and thus made a great second film in a Friday night double feature. 

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Read:

Now that I have acquired all three issues of DC's Black Label The Bat-Man: First Knight, I finally read the entire storyline in a single sitting over the weekend. Perfect for Norvember!

Writer Dan Jurgens really thought out and researched what a Batman story set in 1939 would look like. The overall story centers around a mysterious ring leader known only as The Voice. From the shadowy comfort of closed quarters, The Voice is conducting a series of hits on city officials - Councilmen, the Mayor, even the Police Commissioner. The perpetrators seem more than human, and people are scared. 

In the background, helping to ramp up the tension is the world of 1939. The world is still reeling from the first "Great War." Uncertainty is everywhere, and to make matters worse, the cunt with the funny mustache is threatening the Jewish people of Europe. America sits on her hands, wishing against the inevitable. Hate spreads quickly, though, and travels on the wind. Hate crimes are on the rise in Gotham, and people are scared and frustrated. Sounds like a proper powder keg, eh? 

Jurgens does some really interesting things with The Bat-Man's supporting cast - Bruce is new to this and none of the confidants we're used to are anywhere to be found. Well, except Gordon. Tried and true, that man.

As you can see, I ended up with a cross-section of the different covers available, but that's fine by me. Each gives a different aspect of the tone series artist Mike Perkins has created here - with no small contribution from colorist Mike Spicer. This book really conveys the era - from the shop signs that line the streets of Gothamn, to the filth that clings to the buildings, shanty towns and alleys, First Knight really puts you there. 

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Playlist:

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Godflesh - Us and Them

Godflesh - Songs of Love and Hate

Raffertie - The Substance OST

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller

Justin Hamline - The House with Dead Leaves

Godflesh - Post Self

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Crystal Castles - II

Drug Church - Prude

Fugazi - Steady Diet of Nothing

Fela Kuti - Sorrow Tears and Blood

Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

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Card:

Today's card is the Five of Cups, or as Crowley dubbed it, "Disappointment."

An important note from my notes on this card: "Examine your expectations." I believe this is the root of the card for me. I can and will go into a little bit of whatever A.C. has in The Book of Thoth, but the older I get, a lot of the "in-depth" elements of association with Tarot feels... cunty. Or to quote Mr. David Byrne, "When I've got nothing (else) to say, my lips are sealed." I increasingly get the feeling that Crowley would have talked for days about any card in the deck if allowed, which means a lot of what he'd have to say would be, ahem, bullshit double talk. But then, the man sold his own semen as a "Health Elixir," so of course that's what he'd do.

The root of this card isn't the disappointment; it's understanding disappointment as at least partially the disappointed one. Five's are Geburah, severity. These are demanding cards (which makes me wonder if the card is the one that's disappointed; is drawing it a scolding?).

Surprisingly, Crowley must, at least in part, agree that this is a simple card. Severity indicates simplicity, in a manner, so that tracks. 

Like in Trump 12, The Hanged Man, we once again see the inverted Pentagram, the triumph of Matter over Spirit. That's a disappointment.