Human Impact - Genetic

 
Somehow, I either missed or forgot that Human Impact released a single in September of last year. "Genetic" is a terse little fist to the throat, wrapped up tight in Human Impact's trademark, snarling severity. Hopefully, this is a sign of more new music to come.

 

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READ:

I did a lot of catching up on current comics over my brief sabbatical from work earlier in the week. Here's what I read and my take:

I didn't realize The Boys: Dear Becky was ending with issue #8 until I read issue #7. Now that the whole thing is out, I re-read it all from the beginning and enjoyed it quite a bit. The Boys is a really uneven epic in my eyes, with moments of emotional brilliance surrounded by what I've come to think of as Garth Ennis just being Garth Ennis. It worked the best in Preacher, but as with the regular Boys series, Dear Becky tends to step back up into the sublime just as you start to feel jaded about the ridiculousness. Overall, if you only know the show, you probably don't need to go back to the source material - The Boys is possibly the best example of an adaptation-for-screen that has completely trumped its source material - however, if you know and dig the original comic series, Dear Becky will scratch the itch.

Having only just read Laura Marks and Kelley Jones's Daphne Byrne a few months ago, our Deep Dive into Hill House Comics on a recent episode of A Most Horrible Library made me want to revisit this stunning Gaslamp-era New York. It's soooo good. Kelley Jones really just brings the creep factor up to eleven here, and it makes for a really fun, pleasing story with all the fixings - widows betrothed to the Devil, ghastly visions, malevolent visitations, and surly, Hackney con artists using peoples' grief and the rise of spiritualism to take advantage of them. 

This one came out in October, but I just read it, then kept it hanging around in the stack so I could read the short story and other backmatter stuff that rounds out every enormous issue of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark's Lazarus, an economy based dystopian world that I have become more and more convinced maybe the closest thing to what the world is going to look like by the end of my lifetime. Equal parts thrilling and intriguing, there's espionage, military strategy, human drama, and action. 

I'm using the image for the upcoming HC collection of Hellblazer: Rise and Fall, but if you can find the single issues, that's the way to read this one. The Black Label, Magazine format is perfect for this story, possibly the first new Hellblazer story in years I've actually really liked. This is the 'softer' JC we've seen in recent years, without that trademark Vertigo edge, however, there's still edge to be had, there's homage to previous creators all over the place, and maybe I just really wanted to like A) a new JC story and B) really wanted to like one of these Black Label books, because I dug this one. Three issues, doesn't overstay its welcome, is pretty humorous at times, and still captures some of the Black Magick Heart of the character. 

 

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Playlist:

Genghis Tron - Cloak of Love

Human Impact - Genetic (single)

The Soft Moon - Criminal

Helmet - Meantime

P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

Small Black - Duplex (single)

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon (pre-release single)

Small Black - Best Blues

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Black Sabbath - Eponymous

Arctic Monkeys - AM

16 - Dream Squasher

Calexico - The Black Light 

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Card:

Stop abruptly and switch gears. 

Isolation: Day 108 Miranda Sex Garden - Tonight

It's been quite some time since I pulled out Miranda Sex Garden's 2000 swan song Carnival of Souls. Last night, prompted by nothing in particular, I noticed its spine on my CD shelf and was moved to give it a spin.

Wow! I've missed this one. My go-to albums with MSG will always be Fiarytales of Slavery and Suspiria. That said, this one has a much more polished feel, but it really works, playing out as a perfect cap on their short-lived career.

And bonus track, because while looking for a video of this one to post, I found this:



This is the first live footage I've found of the band, and it definitely doesn't disappoint. I really wish I could have seen them live.

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What a NCBD we have this week! Holy cow am I excited! Why?

A 36-page One Shot, the proceeds go 100% to the comic stores selling it! That is awesome. Robert Kirkman can do no wrong in my eyes - he's helping out comic shops and giving us a new dose of one of my all-time favorite characters. Win win.

If that weren't enough:

The second issue of the new series following characters from Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson's The Boys - with Russ Braun taking over penciling - Dear Becky looks as though it will reveal some interesting things about Butcher's character, while also giving us a glimpse into Wee Hughie's life twelve years after the events of the original series.

I picked up the first issue of this a while back and really liked it, so I'm glad to see the series continue. A weird little take on a horror story, plus, I really like supporting Action Lab. They are forever in my good graces after 2015's Night of the 80s Undead.

Over the weekend I just completed a re-read of The Plot 1-4, I can definitely say I LOVE this book. Ancestral Horror is a thing that needs to make a comeback. After the brief hiatus for the book, I'm psyched to get more answers and, I suppose, inevitably more questions.

**

Playlist:

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Lustmord - The Dark Places of the Earth
Pale Dian - Narrow Birth
Atrium Carceri - Cellblock
Kohler Playlist: Week of 6/29/20
Kohler Playlist: Week of 4/27/20
White Zombie - La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1
Ennio Morricone - The Thing OST
Miranda Sex Garden - Carnival of Souls

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Card:

"Inspired from Above." Not entirely sure how that applies, but when I think about this card now, I reflect on the fact that this is the highest mark in the cycle of cups, where emotional maturity helps understand the path through Malkuth, the world. There's a harmonic resonance that feels reassuring, even as much of what's outside my window feels like its falling apart, and many of this world's denizens appear to be anything but emotionally mature.