Interesting fact: If you look this song up on YouTube, before delivering the results, you get a full page suicide prevention page. Kinda goofy, and kinda nice. Anyway, it's late, I'm tired, and even though there are half a dozen other songs I wanted to post, they all will require some 'writing.' So I went with this, some good old Suicidal. Title track from their 1988 album, a banger from start to finish.
NCBD:
Some great stuff this week. Let's get into New Comic Book Day for Wednesday, February 25, 2026!!!
New Vertigo series from That Texas Blood creators Chris Condon and Jacob Philips! I know NOTHING about this beyond Ezra Cain is a private eye, so I am excited!
The Quintesson War continues, and this month we have a cover with an army of those green Baliff characters that work the Pit of Judgement for the Quintessons. One thing I love about the Quintessons and their, erm, assets is the weird blend that makes a lot of these guys look similar - like they were all cobbled together from the same parts but under slightly different creative whims. Which fits when the architect has five faces.
Only Liam Sharp could get me buying a Spawn title, and so far, The Dark Ages volume 2 lives up! The art in this thing is awesome! Listen to Mike and me discuss the first two issues on Drinking with Comics HERE.
The third and final issue of this second 1930's Batman series. I held off reading issue two, waiting for this one to show up, so now I can read the entire series in one sitting!
Plastic:
Fuck. Just fuck. I stumbled across a YouTube video that clued me in to Big Bad Toy Store's Big Bad Workshop and the fact that they have a figure under their Soldier of Fortune banner that is as close as we're likely to get to a Hooded Cobra Commander figure. Check this out:
It doesn't stop there, though. Scrolling through the workshop page, I found this under the Cult of the Crimson Moon collection:
Even better! The red matches the historically related Baron Ironblood from the British Action Force/Red Shadows. Check out THIS video from Destro is My Spirit Animal that explores the history of this.
Finally, I stumbled on BBWS's Monster Force collection and found this:
Werewolf troopers and they don't have to actually be associated with nazis! I'm sick to fucking death of fucking nazis!
Playlist:
King Woman - Celestial Blues
Mike Patton - The Solitude of Prime Numbers
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Suicidal Tendencies - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today
Plague Bringer - Life Songs In A Land Of Death
Plague Bringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Card:
Stepping away from Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot (which you can buy HERE.) again to play with my beloved Thoth.
• IX: The Hermit
• 3 of Disks: Work
• 2 of Cups: Love
"Stepping away from the world to rebuild, listen to inner guidance as a stability you have quakes. This is what happens when we build atop previous confidences. New stability will come, and with it, love and partnership."
I think there's something here for me about podcasting. I won't go into it now, but it perfectly maps something that's been developing and how I've handled it.
When I posted a new track from Myrkur back on January 28th, we did not yet know if more music would follow. Here then is the answer.
Sort of.
Another fantastic new song, still no word of an album.
Amalie Bruun's voice continues to amaze me; this is still probably the closest thing I know of to how the old school Miranda Sex Garden made me feel, once upon a time.
NCBD:
I'm so eager to know more about Edgewater and this strange place
David and Maria Lapham's Good As Dead comes to an end, and although I'm bummed it's done, I can't wait to see how things end. I'm guessing horribly for some - or most - of the cast. This has been such a great ride; I miss having a regular Lapham book in my life. Might be time to re-read Stray Bullets!
The cover says it all!
Two issues left after this one, although I'm not sure if that's series end or 'season' end. Either way, things are really heating up (pun intended).
Read:
My good friend Chris Saunders alerted me to a new Weird Tales Kickstarter campaign that launched earlier in the week. I backed this puppy the second I saw it.
I've really been 'feeling' CDs lately. I think January/February always inspires me to return to a state of mind that reaches through time and connects to the mid-to-late 00s, when the internet was amazing, and the world hadn't yet shifted into a post-apocalyptic paradigm.
At the time, shortly before I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, I was finishing up years of playing in bands and gigging pretty regularly. I met a lot of bands this way, and one of the fiercest was Amherst, Massachusetts' Read Yellow.
I either saw or opened for these guys at Chicago's Fireside Bowl. Read Yellow had a big, noisy sound slightly reminiscent of Sonic Youth, but that comparison sells Read Yellow short. This band has such energy! When you exist for an extended length of time inside a live indie circuit, one thing you often find - and it definitely plagued a band or two of my own - some bands who have fireball energy live don't always find a way to translate that to a recording.
NOT the case here.
Although Read Yellow broke up years ago (I just double-checked), their website is still up, which definitely suggests someone in the group understands the need to keep their flame burning, even dimly, for future generations to find.
NCBD:
BIG week this week at the comic shop.
This cover says it all! Looking ahead on this book's solicitations, Kirkman is building something epic with Megatron. The increased focus on his volatile madness we've seen over the last few issues is about to burst, and it should make for some awesome reading along the way. Also, I'm still just blown away by Thundercracker defecting to the Autobots. So cool!
A Lovecraft adaptation in mini-series form, it's been a couple of years since I read the original short story, The Thing on the Doorstep, but I'm really interested in how it will translate here, maybe because we never did get that Richard Stanley cinematic version he talked about doing after The Color Out of Space.
Having just caught back up on this book and found Splinter resurrected, I'm very curious how this is going to play out. On the surface, I don't love the idea of long-dead characters coming back from the dead, but I'm willing to give Turtles the benefit of the doubt.
Ever wanted to see a priest kick the Mafia's ass? This is the book for you! Loved the first issue, can't wait to dig into number two!
Larry Hama's GIJOE: A Real American Hero hits another milestone, and to celebrate, he's apparently introducing two new Joes! Being that we're free and clear of toy tie-ins, unless Classified wants to take a nod from Hama, I'm pretty intrigued. What would two new Joes in 2026 look like? We'll find out today!
Watch:
As I alluded to in Monday's post, my ventures into the DC Absolute universe have dovetailed with something... else. Let me explain.
This past Sunday, I woke up feeling burnt out. Reading a Substack newsletter from John Pavlovitz about the absolutely blatant racism of the *ahem* superbowl halftime alternative cooked up by magacunts and kid rock,* I found myself overwhelmed again by the "We can't fix this" mantra that has pretty much played on a steady loop in my subconscious since 2018. I don't doom scroll; I don't really 'scroll' all that much at all anymore, but what I have been doing is looking through the various newsletters I receive in my email. I happened on a new one from Grant Morrison's Xanaduum, and falling into the prosiac embrace of a man whose writing I was once obsessed with, I felt the urge to walk over to the bookshelf and pick up his 2011 treatise on Super Heroes as hopeful, psychological antibodies for the modern disaster.
Not looking to add yet another book to the "currently" or even "soon to be" reading piles, instead, I re-read the introduction and was reminded why Morrison once spoke so strongly to me. The bomb had begun as an idea and humanity had worked to give it material form. So too, could another idea - one infinitely more powerful than a mere bomb - be conjured into our lives to stave off the destructive potential assailing us?
Being that Morrison wrote about this way back in 2011 - when things were infinitely less F*cked than they are now - I had to ask myself, might I not need something like this now? Might I not benefit from exposure to something all-powerful and brimming with, of all things, hope?
It was with that in mind that I hit play on James Gunn's Superman laster that day.
All I can say is, always happy to be proven wrong.
In my defense, I have long answered the friends who assured me this film was great and that I was missing out with a patented, "I know it's great, I just don't care." So I simply reached a point in my lfie when I do care, and the film definitely worked its magic on me.
My good friend Chris Saunders asked me to elaborate what I liked about the film and I rattled off the following list:
- That Nick Hoult's Lex Luthor was clearly designed to look like Grant Morrison was the film's evil doer
- That Coresweat somehow managed to avoid all the stupid foibles all other good-natured attempts at Supes have fallen prey to (from what I saw in Snyder's Batman V. Superman, his wasn't good-natured or cloddish, he (and Snyder) just had too much to prove by taking the chacter dark.
- That Rachel Brosnahan was born to play the role of Lois Lane
- That Gunn cast Wendell Pierce as Perry White
- That Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific stole every scene he was in
- That Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner cut and attitude were spot on
- That Pruitt Taylor Vince played Pa Kent
- The Monkeys!
- "Thanks, bitch!"
Honestly, I'm shocked how much I liked this, but I'm not sure why. Apparently, my love of James Gunn far outweighs my detestation of Superman as a character.
For more, Mike and I discuss the film at length in the latest episode of Drinking with Comics, which I'll embed here in a few hours when it posts to youtube.
* So proud that my long-time friend Cap'm Jack once cut KR's tires in a Michigan venue parking lot! I loved that story at the time - back when this cunt was first getting national exposure - but I love it even more now.
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Drab Majesty - Careless
Mr. Bungle - California
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
Mr. Bungle - Eponymous
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1
Mountain Realm - Rustborn
Mountain Realm - Frostfall
Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai
David Lee Roth - Crazy from the Heat EP
David Lee Roth - A Little Ain't Enough
Helmet - Aftertaste
Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Corrosion of Conformity - Deliverance
sunn O))) - Glory Black (pre-release single)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XVII: The Star
• XX: The Aeon
• XXI: The Universe
The reason I waited to discuss this was so I could have already talked about James Gunn's Superman, Grant Morrison's Super Gods, and this idea that I might be able to use these larger-than-life characters to help assuage the fears and neuroses.
The Star - thinking bigger can act as cleansing. The figure on the card is literally washing themself in the rivers of cosmic confidence.
The Aeon - Pass from one ruling paradigm to another, or it's never too late to change, no matter how difficult it is. No matter how big a change it requires.
The Universe - Think macrocosmic, not microcosmic.
I'm going to pursue an interest in superheroes again - especially Superman - as a way to try and tip the scales and shake off some of the unhealthy mental 'doom plaque' that's built up since, oh, 2016. I'm going to read and enjoy in an active, not a passive manner, where I imagine the foes the super gods are fighting are the foes to the healthy world I want to inhabit, both in my head and outside the walls of my house. It might be a fool's errand, but it's what Superman would do. (since when do I say things like that? Well, maybe it's time I incorporated that kind of thinking into my life.)
An oldie but a goodie from Helmet. I've had 1997s Aftertaste in regular rotation lately, and it feels good to reconnect with such a formative album for me. I am hot and cold on everything they did before this, but Aftertaste has blown me away since the first time I heard it, back when Mr. Brown slipped me a dubbed cassette shortly after the album's release.
NCBD:
A couple of books I'm very excited for on this list. Let's go!
A couple of years back, K and I randomly came across the old Thundarr the Barbarian cartoon we grew up with in the 80s and gave it a whirl. We were both shocked at what we didn't remember about this one - namely, that it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future! Way to turn the barbarian tale on its head! And now Jason Aaron is writing a new Thundarr comic for Dynamite! I've been waiting for this one since I first saw the solicitation a few months back, and finally, today, here we are!
A double dose of Barbarism this week! Savage Sword of Conan issue 12 lands and we get another single-issue story from Chris Ryall and Gabriel Rodriguez! Can anything top last month's Liam Sharp? I'm game to find out.
The Nice House By the Sea returns from its "mid-season hiatus," and I realize I'm going to have to re-read the previous six issues before digging into this one. Weekend project.
Speaking of weekend re-reads, I fully intend to sit down and read all of Event Horizon Dark Descent in one shot now that the final issue is upon us. I didn't love this book (so far, anyway) but then, I like the film less and less the more I watch it. I mean, I still like Event Horizon, it just doesn't quite live up to that first viewing way back when, and looking too closely has revealed some gaps. Still, Sci Fi Horror is fun as hell, and watching Sam Neill take his eyes out in a hell dimension is no exception.
Finally, my first fully on board, subscribed and in my box waiting for me issues of Fraction and Jimenez's Batman, and after last month, I'm chomping at the bit for it. I LOVE this book!!!
Watch:
I've reengaged with Japanese Cinema more over the last year, so when I saw this trailer about a man trapped in an endless subway station, I was immediately interested. Kind of a Japanese Backrooms, but also, this reminds me of Sofia Ajram's novel Coup de Grace, which I read last year (or the year before) and really dug.
I'm quite the fan of stories about people being lost in seemingly endless labyrinths. House of Leaves, In the Walls of Eeryx,No End House... the list goes on and I'm a fan of them all, so I'm excited to add another to that list, and Genki Kawamura's The Exit 8 looks to be just that. Read more about this one over on Bloody Disgusting HERE.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right
QOTSA - Lullabies to Paralyze
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
H6LLB6ND6R - OST
Melvins - (a) Senile Animal
Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound
Massive Attack - 100th Window
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Pentacles
• Knight of Swords
• Six of Pentacles
Collaboration of Wills can create a balanced mechanism. No idea what this is trying to say, so let me look a little deeper with the help of Banzhaf & Theler's Keywords for the Crowley Tarot.
Two of Pentacles, combined here with the sharpened intellect of the Knight of Swords may point to paying attention to opposites. There's what I normally do, and then what's the opposite of that? Six of Cups suggests whatever that is, it might be a good idea.
Not certain if this single heralds a new Myrkur album coming this year, but that'd be pretty cool. I just cracked out the first record recently and it left me wanting new music.
NCBD:
Okay - there had better be an ocean of Sharkticons in this issue. Just sayin'. Among my favorite of all Transformers released, I love these bitey little fuckers. Maybe because they kind of remind me of the old B&W TMNT robot mousers, or maybe because they had their debut in my beloved Transformers '86 with no small fanfare. Seriously, the Quintesson/Sharkticon segments are among my favorites in that film. Cant' wait to see what kind of damage Kirkman unleashes with them here.
Roadblock's food truck defense system? Not sure what's going on here, but I'll be happy to get my hands on another issue of Joe so soon after that brilliant final issue of Dreadnok War!
Ah - Phil Bram and J.G. Jones' Dust to Dust is finally back. I believe there is just one issue left after this, out March 4th. Definitely going to wait to read this until that drops, so I can sit down and read the entire story in one sitting.
Watch:
There's not much Marvel does anymore that I like, but this? I am all about this:
What a super WEIRD trailer, right? Excited to see some old faces return, and I'm really digging the storyline with Michael Gandolfini and that looks like it will continue to evolve this season.
Also, according to IMDB, this looks to have already been picked up for a third season, so I guess the "Born Again" moniker is the overall title of the revamped show, not the name of a specific limited-series storyline, as I originally assumed.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti - Mulholland Drive OST
Blood Cultures - Skate Story: Vol. I
Sunn O))) - Glory Black (pre-release single)
Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence BBC6 Live: On the Invitation of Mary Anne Hobbs
BLUEBOB - Eponymous
The Veils - Total Depravity
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Nocturama
QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf
QOTSA - Eponymous
The Afghan Whigs - In Spades
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Six of Cups
• Three of Swords
• Ace of Cups
"Finding an emotional center after trauma can only come through empathy."
Okay, I'll admit I'm really reaching with this one. I see this spread and I feel like it's talking to me, but the message is coming out muddled, thus the crappy interpretation above.
Is it enough to think this is a direct nod to my emotional state after seeing this earlier today?
Mr. Brown first put L.A.'s Agriculture on my radar, and while I've logged a couple evenings spinning their 2025 album, The Spiritual Sound, I'm not sure I actually "got it" until I saw this live performance on KEXP.
NCBD:
A nice, easy week with two books I am very much looking forward to reading:
One issue left after this one, and I can't wait to see how David and Maria Lapham's Good As Dead shakes out in the end. Fairly ominous solicitation over on League of Comic Geeks:
"The truth behind the Port Lindon disaster is revealed, but not everyone will survive to hear it."
Mystery, Crime and Suspense, the way only the Laphams can do it! I've loved having a new series from them, so much so that this might kick off a long-overdue Stray Bullets reread.
Apparently, Walsh and Tynion's Exquisite Corpses just got optioned for adaptation. Couldn't happen to a crazier, bloodier book. Already cinematic in scope, this one really kicks you in the face every month. Hold my beer while I put in my mouthguard, new issue
Watch:
Last Thursday night, K and I hit our local theatre for the first showing of Nia Dacosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. We were coming in hot off our first rewatch of Danny Boyle's preceding film, which we were both a little lukewarm on after our initial theatrical viewing back in July of 2025.
Watching that first film again, I found I had warmed to it. Boyle is first and foremost an innovator, and I think my initial disconnect from the first chapter in his and Alex Garland's 28 Years Later trilogy had a lot to do with the visual language of the film, and not so much with the story. Jarring camera work, counterintuitive editing, stylized backgrounds and stock footage, and mixed-media injections all made for a unique but initially confusing undertaking. Having gotten that out of the way and acclimated to the expectation for these elements, the film played a lot better.
And now we have this: a film so confident and viscerally affecting, not even the trailer takes away from it.
I can't wait to see this one again on the big screen, and maybe more importantly, what a success like The Bone Temple will do to propel Dacosta's career into the stratosphere.
Playlist:
Muddy Waters - Electric Mud
David Lynch & Marek Zebrowski - Polish Night Music
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Various - Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)
This coming Saturday, January 10th, marks the tenth anniversary of David Bowie's passing. I usually begin 7 Days of Bowie on the anniversary, but this year, I'd like to start it a little early. So here we go. We miss you, Starman!
It struck me again the other day just what a weird, awesome cover this one is. From his 1973 album Aladdin Sane,
NCBD:
2026 is starting out light. Not a complaint, that's for sure! I've been trimming back my pull list at Rick's, trying to stick with essentials. There will always be new books that catch my eye, and I'll almost always give them a try, as that's how I often find my favorite books (see the Drinking with Comics "Best of" for 2024 and 2025, where last-minute chances end up near the top of my year-end list). At the same time, I tend to overbuy, and I'm becoming increasingly neurotic when it comes to space. I have a short box and a half of stuff I want to get rid of but am not 100% sure the best way to do so, and I've spent several recent nights just sitting in my office/nerd dungeon* reflecting on how to improve use of the space for all my 'things.'
First world problems, fo sho.
Here are this week's books:
The first issue of Batman/Green Arrow/The Question: Arcadia eithersuffered from a skosh of awkward story compression, or I'm just missing a lot of assumed historical knowledge, being that I have zero experience with two of the three characters here. Still, this harkens back to the late 80s prestige-format DC books, so I'm hanging in.
Not sure if this is the end of the second arc or the entire series. I'm pretty sure there must still be at least one more mini-series to go. Either way, Stokoe's art continues to blow me away on every page.
I'm still fighting a zeitgeist urge to get into this Absolute Batman. It's been pretty easy to avoid the regular series because the one issue I've read was not great. That said, there are some pretty interesting things going on in this "Universe," so I've been cherry picking a few titles.
Watch:
I only needed to make it 38 seconds into this trailer to know I was in. You can only watch it on youtube, but here's a poster and the embed should take you directly there:
Kirill Sokolov's They Will Kill You looks fantastic! I am absolutely psyched for this one, which comes out three days after my 50th birthday! Woo-hoo!!
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Mountain Realm - Frostfall
David Bowie - Low
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Ghost - Impera
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
Kildren - December (single)
Double Life - Indifferent Stars
The Jesus Lizard - I'm Tired of Being Your Mother (single)
The Jesus Lizard - Down
Helmet - Aftertaste
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
Self - Niceness (single)
Self - Porno, Mint & Grime
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Denison/Kimball Trio - Plays the Music of Walls in the City
The Besnard Lakes - ....Are the Ghost Nation
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Knight of Swords
• Seven of Pentacles
• Three of Pentacles
The Creative Will often needs to stagnate in order to prosper.
That definitely fits. Yesterday was the first writing session I had in a week; whenever I blow a weekend without a creative outlet, it feels gross, and now that's kind of morphed into a long, slog of 'blah.' Up late writing this on Monday night, I don't feel like doing much of anything: writing, watching, nothing but listening to David Bowie. That's the only agenda I had that kept me from turning in. So I'm listening to The Man Who Sold the World for the first time in a couple years and writing this and I'm not really sure what I'll do when I reach the end of this sentence.
I don't know of another piece of music that fills me with such calm. I think it's because I started really getting into Trailer Park Boys shortly after I moved to L.A. in 2006, and I associate those first five years there as being the last bastion of the world before the post-apocalyptic bullshit started. This isn't political - well, not entirely - everyone's wrong. Everything's broken. This song represents a kind of precipice to me, and although the world has since fallen off, every once in a while I hear this and it slows the fall, reminds me what it was like to have our feet planted on what we thought was solid ground*.
* It was never solid ground and every generation feels this. The current generations, though, are the ones living it.
NCBD:
Short week this week.
Finally - "The Quintesson War" begins! I've declared my love for these odd techno-organic monstrosities on this page many times, and I'm happy as hell to have a six-issue arc dedicated to them in Void Rivals. Unlike fellow Energon Universe title G.I. Joe's current "Dreadnok War" storyline, VR isn't going bi-weekly for this stretch, and I'm fine with that. Just happy to be getting more Quintesson goodness!
When I downloaded this cover, I noticed right away the "7 of 8" added to the corner box. NO! I thought Zander Cannon's Sleep was going to go on longer than just eight issues! I will miss this book SO MUCH! That said, I can not wait for the revelations we're sure to be getting over the next two issues. I mean, I don't need it all explained and wrapped up, but I'm dying to get at least a glimpse at what it is that Jonathan becomes when he falls asleep. That's really all I ask.
The penultimate issue of this Event Horizon prequel series. This one isn't quite what I expected or hoped for, but it's definitely building to something. I'm hoping that something is as INSANE as those snippets of these events play in the movie. We'll see.
Watch:
I had the distinct pleasure of being offered a copy of Kyle Valle and Erin Áine's ZombieCON, Vol. 1 this week. Here's a trailer that just barely scrapes the surface of goodness contained within:
This is a super indie film, but I have to say, they really made everything about it work. This feels like it should have come out ten years ago - NOT a knock - and reminds me so much of Joss Whedon - specifically that Dr. Horrible web-series Whedon did circa 2008. This comes from a place of love with the Convention circuit and the entire culture that goes with it.
Playlist:
Radiohead - Kid A
Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire
Somnium Nox - Apocrypha EP
Somnium Nox - Terra Inanis EP
Black Taffy - Out Moon
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Metallica - Kill 'Em All
Odonis Odonis - Eponymous
Ashes and Diamonds - Are Forever
Eagulls - Eponymous
Faetooth - Labryinthine
Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
Deftones - private music
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Three of Swords
• Five of Pentacles
• Seven of Pentacles
Blockage, worry and calamity.
I had an Al Swearingen moment this morning. I drank a bit more beer than I probably should have last night, fully expecting to wake up in the middle of the night to answer the call of nature. Didn't happen. As a matter of fact, I woke up this morning and didn't feel an aching desire to relieve myself then, either. All day this has haunted me. I drank a ton of coffee, but never really felt like what came out was equal to what went in. That's not normally how my body works. So I see this full, and I'm a skosh concerned.
Let's put a pin in this one and hope everything comes out okay tomorrow.
In celebration of the fact that Plague Bringer is back and playing their first show in ten years at this year's Forever Deaf Fest in Chicago on April 1st and I grabbed tickets HERE.
These guys have such a small internet presence. Thanks to the Spreading the Plague YouTube channel HERE for posting this video. Lots of great stuff on this channel - go check it out.
NCBD:
What a great week! Let's go:
I really enjoyed issue 3 of David and Maria Lapham's Good as Dead, so I'm charged for #4! This book has some really interesting things going on in the background, and apparently, that's about to go off this issue!
This bi-weekly schedule for GIJOE'sDreadnok War storyline has really given the book the boost it needed! We've got major The Hills Have Eyes vibes in the outback with everyone's favorite grape soda addicts, and now that we've gotten an almost otherworldly, animalistic view of Cobra Commander, the pull on this one has strengthened for me quite a bit.
I recently covered Tynion and Walsh's Exquisite Corpses on The Dread Broadcast because I think it's a book people need to know about.
It feels like it's been forever since the first issue of Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins and Mike Spicer's follow-up to last year's Bat-Noir, Bat-Man: First Knight, which I wrote about HERE. So far, I dig this new series just as much as the first; I could literally read one of these every year and be pretty happy. Batman fits 1930s Noir so well, and these creators really flourish in the style.
Watch:
Finally! The trailer I saw for Damian McCarthy's new film Hokum has hit YouTube, and I can share it! I know, I know - I don't normally like to watch trailers. I saw this before Sisu: Road to Revenge last month and was left jaw agape - another fantastic Neon trailer that shows us so much without telling us anything at all. Now that's how trailers should be!
Especially for McCarthy's films, which, to date, with Caveat and Oddity, are extremely unique and unnerving creations. Hokum - out May 1st - looks to be no different.
Playlist:
Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST
Bluekarma - The Information
The Afghan Whigs - Gentleman
Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road for the Hit
Ritual Howls - Ruin
Drain - ... Is Your Friend
Plaguebringer - As the Ghosts Collect, the Corpses Rest
Orville Peck - Pony
Radiohead - Kid A
Radiohead - OK Computer
Dreamkid - Daggers
Eldov - A Story of Darkness and Light
Mondo Decay - Nun Gun
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Four of Wands
• Seven of Wands
• Eight of Cups
Don't allow harmony to convince you to drop your guard.
New music from Nothing! Lead single from their upcoming album A Short History of Decay, out February 27 on Run For Cover Records. Pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
A nice, tight list of great books today. Let's get
I guess I'll be leading every Transformers entry in these pages with, "Look at that cover!" because hot damn if Dan Moya isn't turning out some of the most elegantly pleasing covers in all of comics at the moment. I was a little concerned about switching out the analog space-dust style of Jorge Corona and DWJ for this more polished look for the book. However, it's been incredible so far.
Jason Aaron is out, and Gene Luen Yang takes over writing as of this issue, backed by Freddie E. Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse on art. I will miss Juan Ferreyra's art; Ferreyra's look was new to me and gave the book a bold new look that I think we were all ready for with 2023's continuity-adhering relaunch. Now, it looks like the new team has once again reinvented the book from the ground up, and I find myself once again happy that I didn't jump off when the issue counter got reset.
Minor Arcana continues to thrill me with its seaside vibes and mysterious characters.
Always a great thing to see Cobra Commander rising from the ashes of his missteps. Also, to have Copperhead feature so prominently on a cover makes my heart sing - one of me favorites, he is!
Watch:
I finally had the chance to sit down and watch David Cronenberg's latest film, 2024's The Shrouds.
After a few initial misgivings, I ended up really liking this. It reminded me a lot of Cronenberg's novel, Consumed, which I am a fairly big fan of. There are a few nuances to Vincent Cassel's acting choices (which might have more to do with an otherwise solid script), but overall, The Shrouds starts in a relatively small place and expands into a very Cronenberg-esque conspiracy. I've been thinking about his predilection and approach to conspiracy lately; most of his films deal with secret cabals and their agendas. Starting with Consumed - unless I'm missing something - those conspiracies become global, moving away from small groups of rag-tag conspirators to incorporate global countries. North Korea is a major force in Consumed, and both Russia and China may or may not figure heavily into The Shrouds. Fifty years of making films that have grown in budget, scope and acclaim have helped David Cronenberg become a Director with global urgency, and that is on full display here.
I watched this on the Criterion Channel app, but it's likely available elsewhere as well (although Criterion is becoming a must-have channel in our house, so I'd just recommend signing up for the trial and checking them out).
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Blackbraid - Blackbraid III
Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World: The Songs of Rodney Crowell
Deadguy - Near Death Travel Services
Fever Ray - Eponymous
Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
Stone Angel - Eponymous
Carter Burwell - Blood Simple OST
Tim Hecker - Infinity Pool OST
Nothing - a short history of decay (pre-release singles)
Mondo Decay - Nun Gun
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Swords
• XIV: Temperance
• Eight of Cups
Agility again. Agility tempered with emotional control. Or, perhaps, Agility achieved through emotional distance?
