THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (André Øvredal, 2023)

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Went into this one more skeptical than it deserved - no doubt because of how much I loved the second episode of the Moffat / Gattis DRACULA that covered the same chapter of the novel - and came out satisfied. Nothing spectacular, but not a bad film by any means: solid performances throughout, some great shippy-atmosphere, and an Orlock-infused Dracula. That being said, all of the above deserved a less pedestrian direction; can only imagine what a more visceral, artistic director would have made of it. Can’t stop thinking that DEMETER would have been a perfect fit for John Carpenter or Ridley Scott (especially given its ALIEN inspiration). (*** / *****)

the pull-list, currently

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... W0RLDTR33 (Tynion IV / Blanco)… BATMAN (Zdarsky / Jimenez)… BIRDS OF PREY (Thompson / Romero)… DAREDEVIL (Ahmed / Kuder)… CAPTAIN AMERICA (JMS / Saiz)… RARE FLAVOURS (V / Andrade)… WONDER WOMAN (King / Sampere)… BATMAN: GARGOYLE OF GOTHAM (Grampá / Lopes)… THE FLASH (Spurrier / Deodato) … USAGI YOJIMBO (Sakai)… THE PENGUIN (King / De La Torre)… FANTASTIC FOUR (North / Gómez)… BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES (Horvath)… DETECTIVE COMICS (V / et al)… ANIMAL POUND (King / Gross)… THE DEVIANT (Tynion IV / Hixson)… LOTUS LAND (Van Poelgeest / Filipe)… PETROL HEAD (Williams / Parr)… BATMAN: OFF-WORLD (Aaron / Mahnke)… BASIC INSTINCT (Freeman / Del Ray)… CRAVE (Llovet)… ALAN SCOTT: THE GREEN LANTERN (Sheridan / Tormey)… BATMAN '89: ECHOES (Hamm / Quinones)… BEYOND REAL (Kaplan / Mascolo / Fejzula)… MASTERPIECE (Bendis / Maleev)… UNDERHEIST (Lapham / Lapham)… VOID RIVALS (Kirkman / De Felici)... TRANSFORMERS (Johnson)... DUKE (Williamson / Reilly)… COBRA COMMANDER (Williamson / Milana)… VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT (MacKay / Cappucio)… PINE & MERRIMAC (Starks / Galán)… ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (Hickman / Checchetto)… ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER (Hill / Caselli)... ULTIMATE X-MEN (Momoko)... ZORRO: MAN OF THE DEAD (Murphy)… AVENGERS: TWILIGHT (Zdarsky / Acuña)… JAMES BOND 007 (Ennis / Lobosco)… GONE (Jock)... THE ONE HAND (V / Campbell)… THE SIX FINGERS (Watters / Kumar)... THE DISPLACED (Brisson / Casalanguida)… BLUE BOOK 1947 (Tynion IV / Oeming)… IF YOU FIND THIS I'M ALREADY DEAD (Kindt / McDaid)... MAN'S BEST (Picheshote / Lonergan)... BLASFAMOUS (Andolfo)... SPIDER-PUNK ARMS RACE (Ziglar / Mason)... SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN (Weisman / Ramos)... NIGHT PEOPLE (Condon / Level)... THE BAT-MAN: FIRST KNIGHT (Jurgens / Perkins)... NAPALM LULLABY (Remender / Bengal) ... LITTLE BLACK BOOK (McComsey / Cunha)... THE GOON: THEM THAT DONT'T STAY DEAD (Powell)... BATMAN: DARK AGE (Russell / The Allreds)... SPIDER-MAN: SHADOW OF THE GREEN GOBLIN (DeMatteis / Maria)... GEIGER (Johns / Frank)... REDCOAT (Johns / Hitch)... ROOK: EXODUS (Johns / Fabok)... AKOGUN: BRUTALIZER OF THE GODS (Ayodele / Akande)... ACTION COMICS (Williamson / Sandoval)... MONSTERS ARE MY BUSINESS (Bunn / Piazzalunga)... UNCANNY VALLEY (Fleecs / Wachter)... SILICON BANDITS (Starr / Talajić)…

Marvel Mini-Books, 1966

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Befitting my endless fascination with outré and small narrative delivery systems, I finally added a set of these wonderful little gumball prizes to The Collection: produced in 1966, the Mini-Books won the Guinness World Record for the smallest books ever made, an honor which I believe they still hold. In the pics below, you can see just how small these little things are. Ordered the recent Abrams facsimile set (featuring Mark Evanier commentary) so I can actually peruse them without worry of them falling apart. Beautiful little examples of comics – and the Marvel Age of comics – history.

farewell, huey

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And Huey The Truck is off on his journey to Carvana heaven, his factory stereo reinstalled, license plate removed, all traces of both my grandfather and I (save the tool box in the bed and the phone mount, which I had to superglue to the dash; let both be someone else's problem) removed. Strange seeing Vanna, the truck I wanted so much and that I so love, sitting in the driveway without Huey looming over her, though not in a creeper sort of way; while Huey was a good little truck that got both of us through a difficult time, that helped me get all of my grandfather's final wishes realized, this final goodbye to both is long overdue: when it's time, it's time.

TSBMR/0003 :: THE ORIGINAL DICK TRACY, No. 4 (Chester Gould, 1945/1991)

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Each week, I make a blind pull from Siri's (randomized) choice of one of the 32 alphabetically-organized shortboxes that constitute my comics collection, (re-)read it, talk about it, and, on (or about) Wednesday, post whatever emerges; you can subscribe via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast delivery system. This week: "plain boiled turnips!" / RIP cow / smurf ice cream…

TSBMR/0003 :: THE ORIGINAL DICK TRACY, No. 4 (Chester Gould, 1945/1991)
Tyler W. Weaver
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