From the recently released, DECAYED: Ten Years of Cities, Wounds, Lightness, and Pain, a compilation of rare tracks, B-sides, split releases with various artists, and stand-alone singles from across Young Widows' career. You can pick this up at their Bandcamp, HERE.
NCBD:
A nice, short week:
Always a good day at the shop when I bring home a new Savage Sword.
Red Roots is one of the sleepers of the year. Loving this book. As far as the solicitations I've seen, next issue is the last, but I'm hoping that's just a season break.
Zartan. We can always use more Zartan! I'm telling you. Him, Scrap Iron and Copperhead. Give me a sitcom with the three of them running a damn bar in the everglades and I'd be one happy MF.
Watch:
Rewatched Panos Cosmatos' Mandy last night. Just because.
I've posted this trailer here before, but what the hell. This film never ceases to amaze me.
Playlist:
John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - Big Trouble in Little China OST
The Cramps - Gravest Gravy
The Cramps - RockinnReelininAucklandNewZealandXXX
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Young Widows - DECAYED: Ten Years of Cities, Wounds, Lightness, and Pain
Boards of Canada - Inferno
Matthew Pusti - Onslaught OST
Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Blut Aus Nord/Aevangelist - Codex Obscura Nomina
Card:
Still on the Thoth deck. Here's another single card pull:
Overindulgence. A direct answer to a question I have been asking myself all day about replacing beer with cookies.
Thanks to a big tip-off from Mr. Brown, I realized that Oklahoma City's Chat Pile dropped a new album this past Friday. I was really hot on their first album, God's Country, back in 2022, then the band kind of fell off my radar. This new one puts them back on in a BIG way; I'd have to say, this is the band I'd vote most likely to take up the mantle currently occupied by Godflesh in my life. With the penultimate Godflesh record arriving in just a few weeks, and the final one coming next year, I have a feeling Chat Pile is more than likely going to enter my regular rotation and stay there.
You can order the new Chat Pile record, Who Loves the Sun, HERE.
NCBD:
A nice mix of the IP stuff and original series this week.
This is homework from my DwC cohost Shin. Apparently this fascimile is the book where the Joker went from being the Cesar Romero version to a more psychopathic, modern version.
The grand finale of the Event Horizon sequel! I've really enjoyed this book, considerably more than the prequel, but it will be cool in a few months to have the final series in this triptych begin and pave the way for an eventual full read-through centered around the film
Underwater action is always appreciated in the GIJOE universe, and this cover has me excited for it!
Odin took a little hiatus but is back. There's so much I love about this book, and dead nazis is only the start! Whatever nether realm these characters have found themselves in is creepy as hell, and this issue's cover is freaking me out just looking at it!
I've been waiting for this penultimate issue of Chris Condon, Andrew Enrich and Charlie Adlard's Of the Earth of a month and hot damn I cannot wait to dig in!
Thundercracker as part of Superion. Robert Kirkman continues to do all kinds of awesome new stuff with these characters.
Watch:
I saw Fall 2: Deadpoint this past Monday. This is the sequel to 2024's Fall, which I did not see. Honestly, I initially assumed I would skip this, too, until I saw the trailer on last month's Dread Broadcast (watch our reaction HERE) and realized, my lack of gusto for this might be a defense mechanism. I mean, supernatural Horror is essentially comfort food at this point, but this? Absolutely terrifying.
The film on the big screen, at least, is just as terrifying and tense as I'd thought it might be. This is going to open a new line of thinking for me: rethink the Horror I dismiss. Next up will be October's adaptation of Daniel Kraus' Whale Fall, which also was an initial dismissal, but subsequently makes me feel really uncomfortable.
Playlist:
Alabama Shakes - I Must Be Dreaming
Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2
Carpenter Brut - Leather Temple
Chat Pile - Who Loves the Sun
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Jim Williams - Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched OST
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Fear - Live... For the Record
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - Enhanced Methods of Questioning
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Bound Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Knight of Cups
• Ace of Wands
• Knight of Pentacles
Follow the heart, as it will lead to breakthroughs that. Just don't be afraid to work for it (or through it, if there's pain involved).
I'm not really sure what this is trying to say, but I have an idea it might not be for me at all.
From Boards of Canada's 2013 opus Tomorrow's Harvest, which I could listen to for days on end. Over on The Horror Vision, we recently did an episode titled, "Liminal Horror is Not YouTube Horror," wherein we dissected the concepts and origins of "liminal" storytelling for the modern age. Boards of Canada came up as a major sonic influence, and I'd say there may be no greater example of the liminal space the group creates in my own head than this particular song, which is both nostalgic and futuristic, tender and apocalyptic at the same time.
NCBD:
Short list this week. Say thank'ee:
Jeff Lemire's wonderfully mysterious Minor Arcana continues and we're deep in an otherworldly hotel in an abandoned seaside town. Add in all the Tarot, and this is literally, right up my alley.
Yeah, my words last month for MASK #3 were something to the effect of, "unless something huge happens, this will be my last issue of MASK." Then I read issue three, reached the end and saw Baron Karza from Micronauts and, yeah, I'm sticking around for that.
Batman 13 - hoping this issue pushes the Vandal Savage stuff out into that Bad Seeds mini-series book spinning out of this and we can focus on other plot points for a while.
Watch:
My good friend Dan surprised the hell out of me yesterday by sending me a copy of Ben Wheatley's latest film (well, being the prolific dynamo he is, Wheatley directed two films so far this year, the Bob Odenkirk action hit Normal and...) Bulk. This played at Beyond Fest Chicago back in April, and while Dan, his girlfriend Heidi and I made it to Normal (not realizing Wheatley directed it until the credits rolled), we did not score tickets to Bulk.
Dan ordered this beautiful BR/4K combo from Wheatley's Rook Films, and upon holding it in my hands, my excitement skyrocketed. I thought I'd posted a trailer for this months ago, but maybe not. Regardless, going in, I only knew two things: that Bulk was shot in B&W and that dealt with Brane Theory in some capacity.
I LOVE that Rook Films used a computer program to construct a trailer out of random images from the film. This ensures you see enough to get the juices flowing, but not enough to give anything away. All I'll say other than I wholeheartedly recommend this film (especially for fans of the Director's other work), is that this pays more than a little homage to the classic British television SciFi of Nigel Kneale, and I absolutely adored it.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas
John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST
Joseph Bishara - Malignant OST
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Quicksand - Bring on the Psychicx
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
Wow. Dolly Parton. I can't claim to be the biggest fan of Dolly's music, not because I don't like it; I'm just not familiar, but as a human being? Among the greatest of our era. RIP.
NCBD:
Lots of stuff I am looking forward to this week, including some new titles.
We begin with a new Stuff of Nightmares one-shot! I have loved every issue published under the Stuff of Nightmares banner, and I expect nothing different from this.
A new Rick Remender book! I've picked up a few first issues from some of his other recent series and nothing really moved me - still quality work, just not my thing. Hammerfist looks like it might change that. Gorgeous Steve Epting art to boot. Very excited for this one!
The final issue of Fall of the House of Slaughter should pave the way for whatever shake-up is about to happen in SIKTC issue 50, out October 7th.
This book looks and sounds very old-school Vertigo. That's calculated, of course, but I'm here to give it a shot. Here's the solicitation blurb from League of Comic Book Geeks:
"OCCULT WARFARE IS A FANTASY... OR IS THAT WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK?
Twenty-three-year-old Darren Burroughs out of Audubon, PA, is a gifted rookie sent under the guise of a diplomatic aide to train with Division Nine — an obscure, outdated, and easily dismissed arm of British intelligence that specializes in dealing with paranormal incidents. In the right sort of spy circles, they're known by a different, more feared name... Black Tower.
It's 2026, and in the age of cyber warfare and drone strikes, someone is plotting to steal the head of a giant-king to break a centuries-old ward that has kept invading forces out of Britain. Magic and espionage collide as the Black Tower's band of misfits, led by the enigmatic Alistair Romeo, delves into a maelstrom of spells and silencers, working against time and in the shadows to fight the esoteric battles bubbling under the surface of our visible wars."
Finally, ROM arrives in the Energon Universe in a proper way this month with these two books:
With ROM and now Micornauts, you have to ask yourself what's next.
Watch:
I first caught wind of Emily Bennett & Justin Brooks' Blood Shine last month when the most recent issue of Fangoria landed at my door. There's a great article about the film that immediately put it on my radar. Now we get our first trailer:
Dark Sky Films has become a force for good in the Horror genre, and when you add in Larry Fessenden as the cult leader, oh boy! I cannot wait. This is currently a $6.99 rental on Prime, so odds are we'll be watching this one over the weekend.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Metallica - Garage Days Re-Revisited
The Ocean - Aeolian
The Ocean - Solaris (pre-release singles)
The Ocean - Holocene
Cliff Martinez - Only God Forgives OST
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom
The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Ace of Swords
• Six of Cups
• Eight of Swords
Revitalized by recent developments, I definitely have a clearer perspective on things. Still haven't passed the stone - or at least I'm pretty sure of that - but I feel better these last few days, and I think a lot of that comes from, as the cards say, information.
UPDATE: Thinking about the cards again. As is my custom, I left the spread on my desk all day so I could contemplate it off and on. That usually doesn't really amount to much - the day's tasks and responsibilities accumulate and I just kind of stop seeing the cards, let alone end up with any time to think or read about interpreting them further. Today, though, I'm thinking about the Ace of Swords, a card I habitually associate with "Breakthrough" when looking at the Thoth version.
This card represents the bridge to the unconscious mind. It also has to do with perception, i.e. awakened perception. Seeing what was missed. In this case, the Eight of Swords suggests an inner problem. I'm having a hard time tying the Six of Cups in here, but I think it goes without saying there's something I'm struggling with that will soon crack wide open in a way that I will gain a new understanding. One that, hopefully, will alleviate the issue. This may very well still tie into my health, but now I'm thinking there's something more.
Dig the track, not 100% sure how I feel about the music video. Usually, when the performer begins writhing suggestively on a bed, the end is nigh. Hopefully that's not the case here.
New album The Dark is out Friday, 8/21. Pre-order HERE.
NCBD:
Short stack this week. The wallet says thank'ee!
New ongoing series from Sean Murphy! Here's the solicitation copy from League of Comic Book Geeks:
"As technology in America advanced, cities began creating the GRID — a robotic transportation system that not only made cars obsolete, it made them illegal. But an outlaw named “Clutch” has no choice but to get behind the wheel one more time. What starts out as a race to save his granddaughter's life quickly turns into a rebellion against technology, fascism, and the future of a divided America."
Every issue of If Destruction Be Our Lot moves it higher on my year-end list.
Not in love with this cover, but the others aren't much better. Still, big issue as far as the story goes, so we'll see.
Watch:
I forgot to mention it here, but I finally got around to watching Mark Savage's 12 to Midnight. If you'll remember, this is the werewolf flick with Charles Bronson doppelgánger Robert Bronzi.
I'd waited for this after posting about it over two years ago. I waited for this to hit streaming for what felt like forever, then it toggled off my radar. I'm not sure when it hit Prime, but it's included there now, so run out and watch this one if you want to see a man that - goddamn, does he look like Charles Bronson! Call me crazy, but I actually really enjoyed this flick. Even more, I enjoyed recording an Irreverent Deep Dive on it for The Horror Vision recently. That drops at the end of the month, so I'll update here when that happens. In the meantime, give it a whirl.
Playlist:
The Caretaker - A Stairway to the Stars
The Caretaker - Theoretically pure anterograde amnesia
Justin Hamline - This Machine Kills Music
Brown Whörnet - Stroke the Apechild
The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Glitchtrip - Sometimes Silly (single)
Mountain Realm - Beastbane
Empusae & Maris Anguis - Onryōtan
The Cramps - Gravest Gravy
Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Brainiac - Electro Shock for President EP
Roughly Enforcing Nostalgia - Front Door Doxologies
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Wands
• King of Pentacles
• Six of Pentacles
See, this is nuts.
I couldn't write anything of an interpretation last night when I finished this entry around 10:40 PM and scheduled it to post at 2:30 AM. I was spent and resorted to one of those crappy fortune-cookie interpretations, which is banal and pointless and not what I'm about in terms of Tarot at all. Gotta stop that.
Anyway, I couldn't muster anything, so I posted the cards and left it. I do this from time to time, intending to come back later to really think about the cards and come up with something. Well, today I woke up at 3:43 AM and have been up since (currently 6:03 AM). That's what I get for having three days in a row of 8+ hours. So here I am, thinking about the cards as the small hours wane, and I come across the "Dawn; sunrise" interpretation for the Six of Pentacles (Disks), and I'm just blown away. Because I was just watching the sunrise before I found that entry.
This has me cross-referencing with Crowley's The Book of Thoth, where, on page 215, his brief dalliance with the Six of Disks mentions the colors on the Thoth version of the card as "... a suggestion of Tiphareth fully realized on Earth."
Not sure, but I think that's an indication that my health troubles are winding down. Tiphareth is The Yellow House, a place of beauty, where the within and without or microcosm/macrocosm, balance in harmony. No small feat. Yet, guided by the Two of Wands, which is being in control of yourself and the King of Pentacles, which Crowley, in turn, cross-references with the I Ching hexagram Kien (53rd) as "... slow, steady emancipation from repressive conditions," makes me think I'm going to pass this fucking stone soon and then all the other shit will just disappear.
From the 2009 album Primary Colours, which I pulled out yesterday and instantly regretted not having listened to in... a very long time. Fantastic record.
I don't know any other records by The Horrors, but this one is fantastic start to finish. These guys obviously got a big push marketing-wise in the wake of Interpol's success, but they are their own band.
NCBD:
So what did Wheeljack find in issue 33? My guess: Dinobots!
Every issue of any Shaolin Cowboy series is a gift. Loving Staying A.I. Live.
I've literally been thinking about Of the Earth more days than not since reading issues 2 and 3 last month. I adore this book! Condon's "The Thing meets Blood Simple" is so spot on, and being that those are two of my all-time favorite films, this feels made for me.
One more after this and I'll need to re-read everything that came before. It has been a minute since The Nice House on the Lake was on my radar; looking back on the last few release dates shown on League of Comic Book Geeks, it appears this went bi-monthly after returning from its "mid-season" hiatus. That's fine; not giving anyone sh*t, just saying, October's final issue will be a good prompt to re-read both The Nice House By the Lake and this second act. A quick search tells me Tynion has not announced a third act, but I guess that will depend on how this current arc ends.
So, while I'm still digging this current chapter of ARAH, I have space constraints that are weighing on me a bit. I recently bought a new long box (I phased out all but two long boxes before my move from LA; took a tip from my friend Chris Saunders and switched everything to short boxes. Way more manageable. The two I did keep were out of necessity: TMNT and X-Men. There's easily a long box of both. Coming to the end of my TMNT box has a lot to do with why I just canceled the series from my pull. Now, I'm closing in on the end of my ARAH box (which admittedly also includes the IDW run; the Energon stuff is all in a short box) and I have to consider if I'm going to stop.
Talk about first world problems.
Watch:
A few months back, Vinegar Syndrome ran a sale on Kim Stim's Blu-Ray edition of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2016 film Creepy, which I had never even heard of, let alone seen. I'm fairly new to Kurosawa's work, but what I've seen thus far - Cure, Chime and Cloud - have all blown me away, so I figured, what the hell? Let's give it a blind buy.
I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I did. This one really messed with me, in the best possible way. There is something so alien and yet relatable about Kurosawa's work that has really steeped into me over the viewing of these last four films, and I feel now as though I have to set out on a mission to see everything. There's a level of banality to Creepy that manages to create an unease that is slow, methodical and unexpected at times. The lighting in the Nishino house borders on what I think of as Cyber-Industrial-Gothic, with Tetsuo and Eraserhead immediately coming to mind.
Playlist:
Jim Williams - Possessor OST
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - Cathedral
Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons
Various - The (S)hit Factory Disc 2
Various - The (S)hit Factory Disc 3
Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
Mary Anne Hobbs Final BBC Broadcast: Burial and Kode 9 (Sept. 8, 2010)
The Horrors - Primary Colours
Pigface - Fook
Carpenter Brut - Leather Temple
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight (pre-release singles)
Lisa Bella Donna - Reach for the Light (single)
Mascara - Hla-11Tf (single)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Eight of Swords
• XVI: The Tower
• Ace of Swords
A lot of strife, which can be a struggle, especially when paired with The Tower, a paradigm either in flux or ruling. This leads me to believe something I adhere to - probably a plot point in Shadow Play 2, or something I hold as an absolute with the characters- will change drastically. I'll resist it at first, then realize the change is needed.
It's been quite some time since I've really gotten into Ween, which breaks my heart because at one time, and in some perpetually occluded way, they are and were one of my favorite bands ever.
It started with Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween)'s Freeman album and hearing his side of the rift that had torn the band apart a few years prior. I wouldn't say I ever took Gene's side over anyone else's, but there was just something so disturbing about hearing the behind-the-scenes shit on this band known for reveling in intoxication that broke something in me. I wouldn't say anyone was at fault but Freeman himself - we all take responsibility for our choices - but it just left me cold. Then, when the band eventually reunited, I don't know, it just felt like the old, 'Ya can't go home again' rang true.
Yesterday, a message from Mr. Brown about the new three-disc anniversary edition of 12 Gold Country Greats set something in motion, and I started listening to Ween and found I couldn't stop. I feel like I reconnected, but what's more, I realized something important.
Ween takes me to a place - a state of mind that I believe I share with my two best friends in the world - Mr. Brown and Sonny Vee. We all live in different places and can't see one another nearly as much as we would like (I could definitely make more of an effort), and so listening to Ween makes me reflect on missing our friendship in the day-to-day, as something I could experience in the flesh, and that leaves me sad. So, while I may be over whatever bullshit I had due to Ween's breakup (finally), I don't think it's likely I'll be doing more than what I did yesterday - the occasional freefall back into a state of mind that just doesn't gel with the world of 2026. Or, at least for the moment it doesn't.
NCBD:
Another light week, thankfully...
Glad to have Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana back. Love this book, and I've been in the mood for Seaside Horror, even if this book is really more Horror adjacent.
Unless something huge happens - and I mean HUGE - this is probably the last regular issue of MASK I'm picking up. I just don't really care about this end of the EU. I know at some point I'll at least partially regret this decision; these titles are all so tied together, after all, that we've seen Scrap Iron working for Miles Mayhem and Matt Trakker build his vehicles from Cybertronian technology. So logic dictates that 'crossing of the streams' will continue. That said, I did not have any MASK toys as a kid; I never saw the cartoon (that I remember) or read the comics. So I think I can let this one go.
Event Horizon: Inferno is the Event Horizon story I've wanted for thirty years. Destined to be in my top of the year.
With all the crossover stuff happening around this book, I am very happy that Fraction and Jimenez appear to be keeping that from infecting the regular book. Because I really dig everything happening in this one. Issue 5 is still probably my favorite comic so far this year. So I'm invested. I just don't care about Commissioner Vandal Savage, Mayor Poison Ivy and the whole police angle. It feels too beholden to what Marvel just did in Daredevil: Born Again. I know this always happens with the big two: they share concepts like this. It's fine. I haven't minded what we've gotten of this so far in the book, and actually quite liked the idea of the police hunting the Bat-Family. Now that this plot point is turning into a full-on "Event," I just want it to stay the hell out of the book so it can focus on other things.
Like Minotaur, who my cohost Mike Shin pointed out is almost definitely an AI crime boss. Now that's not something I've seen anywhere else. You?
Watch:
Monday night, K and I hit the Regal Mystery Movie: Horror Edition and were thrilled with an early screening of Eli Roth's Ice Cream Man.
This movie is f*cking bonkers!
Weapons meets Terrifier is my elevator pitch. Weapons, because there are children running around constantly causing mayhem; Terrifier because their mayhem consists of brutally murdering every adult they encounter in some of the most graphic ways I've seen on a big screen since Terrifier 3. This is not for everyone - I can't tell you how many people walked out of the theatre Monday night - but if you have a sick sense of humor like I guess K and I do, I think this will really make for a fabulous night at the theatre!
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi
The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop OST
Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats
Ween - Featuring the Shit Creek Boys: Live in Toronto Canada
Ween - Live at Stubbs (Disc 2)
The Black Keys - Magic Potion
Alice in Chains - Sap
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Gatta Merta - Black Hall (single)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
I knew nothing about Holy Fawn before last week when I stumbled across them on Apple Music. Listening to their 2018 album Death Spells, I was pretty blown away. The band's Wikipedia page lists them as Black Gaze, which I won't exactly contest, but there is a lot more than that going on here. This entire record is fantastic, and I'm looking forward to digging into their follow-up, 2022's Dimensional Bleed.
Fantastic album names that completely fit their sound, too.
Shortest haul in a while. Enjoy, wallet - you've earned this!
Loving this series, thus far. Not sure how long a trip we're in for on Red Roots - the solicitations on League of Comic Book Geeks stop next month with #5. Hope that's just a "seasonal hiatus."
DeMatteis back to do a What If...? Based on the greatest Spider-Man story ever written? And it's a one-shot? Sign me up!
Watch:
I haven't seen I Sell the Dead since it first hit DVD, back in 2008/2009. Probably watched on a through-the-mail DVD rental from Netflix. So I was super excited when I saw Vinegar Syndrome (or one of their partner labels) had it.
My copy arrived yesterday, so by the time you read this, I've already revisited this one. In a weird coincidence, Writer/Director Glen McQuaid had just ended up on my radar again via one of the more recent issues of Fangoria, where they did a piece about his new film, The Restoration of Grayson Manor, which is making the festival rounds now.
Playlist:
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST
Ministry - Animositsomina
Ministry - Amerikkant
Spotlights - Love & Decay
Boards of Canada - Inferno
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Oz
Carlos Rafael Rivera - They Will Kill You OST
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Ten of Cups
• VII: The Chariot
• XIX: The Sun
Only thing I'm interested in knowing right now is if I'll end up in the ER again - the stone I thought passed apparently did not, because yesterday was ROUGH. The cards don't really work that way, but I'll take these three as a nod to happiness, determination and success as a nod that I will be able to weather the storm on my own.
Despite not caring for the "Quintesson War" storyline very much, I'm liking where everyone landed in the fallout from those events. I think Darak and Solila off the Great Ring and in cahoots with Pythona.
My final issue! All the way to 300 with these guys. Hats off - still the best reboot of anything I've ever experienced.
I finally caught up on this earlier in the month and spoke about it HERE. As I ready myself for this final issue, I'll just say this is also a contender for best of the year. So nice to travel back to the Vertigo 80s with ol' tall, green and swampy.
The penultimate issue before whatever #50 is going to do to change the series. Loving these "young Erika" stories, but ready to get back to the here and now.
The final of Chris Condon and Jacob Philips' first Ezra Cain mystery. Hoping there will be more down the road, although these will undoubtedly read better as trades, so I may refrain from buying any more of this particular series monthly.
I dug the atmosphere and overall storyline for Brutal Dark, and I've said it before and will continue to preach - we need more stories to remind the world that nazis and nationalism are bad. Especially now, when there's a growing number of people in our culture afraid to talk about the unpleasantness of the past.
Another that will easily ride out the year in my top five.
The finale of this wonderful aquatic horror mini-series! Oni still going strong.
Watch:
I'll admit I watched this trailer not expecting to care one way or the other about this flick. It feels a bit like that strain of Horror that includes titles like Afaid and Megan 2.0. That said, there's a jump scare here, though, that made me laugh out loud. In a good way!
Also, what I did not notice at first - this is directed by Rob Savage, and I quite enjoyed both Host and The Boogeyman, so I'm in.
Playlist:
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight (pre-release singles)
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Nell' ora blu
Melvins - (A) Senile Animal
Carlos Rafael Rivera - They Will Kill You OST
Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi
Pilot Priest & Electric Youth - Come True OST
Zombie - Shape Shift
Boris/Merzbow - 2R0I2P0
Mastodon - Marrow Deep (pre-release singles)
Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead
Holy Fawn - Death Spells
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Seven of Swords
• Knight of Pentacles
• XIII: Death
Big change brought about by successful ambition. No idea where to apply that in my life, unless it's telling me my ambitious trek to abstain from beer until at the very earliest November 5th to help my liver recover will pay off. And by pay off, I mean grant me the rest of my lifetime happily drinking pints (maybe not every night anymore, though...).
Holy cow! New QOTSA and it features Nikki Lane! No idea if this heralds a new album on the horizon, but it's been a few years since In Times New Roman, so I'm guessing we'll see something sooner than later.
NCBD:
Great pull this week, with a couple of last-minute surprises!
Still walking that road to SIKTC 50. Digging this series - LOVE this cover - but as I've mentioned before, I'm in need of a reread all around to really cement some of the finer points of the rather intricate continuity that runs between all these books.
I cannot believe that, after re-reading the entire series last week, it ended up timed to coincide with the release of a new Rachel Rising one-shot!
The climax to our introduction to the energon-fueled Dire Technology of Crystal Ball. Smart money says this issue ends with Destro making a deal with the lord of illusions, but we'll see.
Tracking to be in my top five of the year. I LOVE If Destruction Be Our Lot. So much!
Crap! A reminder that I completely forgot issue 2 of Chris Condon, Charlie Adlard and Andrew Enrich's Of the Earth! I mean, I walked into Rick's last month expecting it, but apparently their copies were damaged, and I guess they never got more.
As has become my inadvertent habit, I just read the previous issue of Savage Sword a few days ago, so it was no surprise to find this slated for today. I don't know exactly how that happened, but I have kind of marveled at my unconscious mind's accuracy with this pattern.
Here's another one I didn't see coming! New Last Ronin one-shot! Interesting, as just before seeing this, I decided to cancel my TMNT pull for this month's number 20, which is actually the 300th "Legacy" issue. I hate all this Legacy counting, but whatever, at this point I'm used to it. I will, however, still be picking up one-offs like this.
Watch:
I so want this to be good. I was a weekly BEE Podcast listener for years before Ellis surprised everyone during the pandemic by reading his work-in-progress The Shards every week, and I've listened to those broadcasts at least twice since. This is the perfect Ellis novel to adapt, in my opinion. There's just one thing giving me pause.
Ryan Murphy.
I was never a die hard AHS fan; I love the Hotel, Roanoke and 1984. I jumped off Coven after three episodes, was mostly happy with the first two seasons, and had mixed feelings about Double Feature. Whatever the Cruisin' knock-off season was proved the last straw for me, and watching all the low-brow, tabloid series he's pumped out since (with the exception of The Beauty), I just can't help but feel hesitant about this.
We'll see on August 5th, I guess. I'm really hoping it works, though. Ellis is one of my favorite Authors, he's written some of my favorite novels - The Shards is one - and there's not an adaptation out there that I favor.
Help me Ryan Murphy, you're my only hope.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Yerusalem - The Sublime
Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Spotlights - Alchemy for the Dead
Ennio Morricone - Black Belly of the Tarantula OST
Boards of Canada - Inferno
Ghost - Skeleta
Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand
Mastodon - Marrow Deep (pre-release singles)
QOTSA - Easy Street (single)
Spotlights - Seance EP
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Five of Cups
• Knight of Swords
• Four of Swords
Grief. Drive. Rest.
I haven't talked about this yet, but last Friday I was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease. It's actually not as severe as it sounds, but I have to stop drinking beer and really change my diet for the next several months to allow my liver to heal. After that, I'm planning to scale the drinking back. I've been doing 2-6 beers a night for over 20 years, so this really isn't a surprise. And it's a lot better of a diagonsis than the scare that led up to this suggested. I can stop when I need to - K and I just did a three-week hiastus in March - but the thing is beer is my nightly ritual. I don't chase intoxication, I just LOVE beer. Good beer, of course. But part of that love now means I have to let it go for a while, so we can be reunited when I'm healthy again.
All my jokes about Keith Richards' liver have come home to roost.
Also of note, found this card face up in the deck after I laid out the cards above, figured that was worth interpreting.
In light of the reading above, I'm reading this as growing pains, as I have many.
