Taratoa Stappard's Mārama.

 

Napalm Death covering Slab. With backup singers! This shit is nuts. A big, thick slab of sonic knuckle in your face to kick off Wednesday. From 2022's Reesentment is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes). I don't know how it's taken me until age 50 to get into Napalm Death, but it happened.

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NCBD:

A couple of "Maybes" I'm including today for various reasons. I'll explain as I go. Big week if I bring all this home.

So, apparently, I'd been buying this off the shelf, neglecting to sub, so I never ended up with issue 3. I dig it, but the books are starting to add up, so I'm tempted to let Thundarr go. We'll see. 

The end of the series. I can't say I've completely followed everything that's happened in Liam Sharpe's Spawn: The Dark Ages, but it's been profound to say the least. The homage to Wrightson's Frankenstein really helped win me over, but really, this man just makes beautiful, challenging art. Who would have ever thought you'd find that in a Spawn book? 

Condon and Adlard? Take my money.

Misommar meets Green Room? Really? That sounds insane. Add to it that Tynion is writing it and I'm in. 

Okay, I've seen this "Dire Wraith" technology or whatever it is (The Hallucinatory green stuff on the cover there) in the solicitations for some of the recent figures - all passes for me - and I'm curious to see how this goes down in the pages of GIJOE. I'm also loving the idea that Crystal Ball will be yet another independent faction in this total melee of factions. That's this book's strong point. It's not just Joe and Cobra. It's at least half a dozen agendas if not more by now (Arashikage, Dreadnoks, Raptor, Blud, etc). 

One of the funest books of the year, and one that has such a 'Summer vibe." Why? I don't know - maybe because when I was a kid in the 80s, summer sometimes meant hanging out at an arcade with friends, playing Double Dragon, and if there's one major pop culture entry in Death Fight Forever's DNA, it's Double Dragon. Jeez - just saying Double Dragon brings on a super strong nostalgia. No wonder I love this book. Which, incidentally, is SO much more insane than DD could ever hope to be. 

Writer Pornsak Pichetshote's graphic novel Infidel from a few years back was one of the genuinely frightening comics I'd read in years, so to see his name attached to the Absolute Green Arrow series being described as "A Horror book" really piqued my interest. 

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Read:

Last night I drove up to the Belcourt in Nashville to see Taratoa Stappard's Mārama.

I knew zero about this going in. Mārama takes place in 1859, North Yorkshire, where Mārama has traveled from her native New Zealand, the home of her Maori ancestors, to meet a man who claims to know her origins. Mārama is an orphan who never knew her parents, so the pull is strong. 

I have seen this described online as a Maori Gothic Horror, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head. This is a gorgeous film, but it is also infuriating. Colonialism is ripe for remembering, with so many in our modern age eager to either celebrate the worst history has to offer or ignore it. Ariāna Osborne is magical and intense as the lead; her unshakeable identity and fury are a balm for her would-be oppressors. 

Definitely support this on the big screen if you can - the costumes, sets and camera will work pay off dividends if you do. 

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Playlist:

Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST

Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone 2 OST

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST
King Woman - Celestial Blues

The Sword - Age of Winters

The Doors - L.A. Woman

The Bangles - All Over the Place

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven 

Palesketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed

Jesu - Lifeline EP

Jesu - Silver EP

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Blackbraid - Celestial Womb EP

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Burial - Untrue

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• 20: Judgment

• Nine of Cups

• 17: The Star

Renewal and fulfillment. I feel this after last. Genuinely - driving up to Nashville later at night is a pleasant drive, and sitting in a theatre I love watching a film I knew nothing about really helped put me back in my preferred perspective. Top that off with a short but powerful writing session beforehand, and yes, today I feel renewed.