Welcome back to another edition of Comic and Movie Bitrot. As a reminder, you can find much of this on Blogger. You can follow Zachary on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, and his website. As a reminder, you can still order copies of my first novel, The Grange, here. Also, my Augmented Reality/Tabletop Role-Playing Game app, QuestXR, is now launching its BackerKit campaign, and you can sign up here. Let’s see…Trump continued to show that he’s totally presidential in how he goes about things. Rand Paul’s attempts to get Anthony Fauci to perjure himself reaffirm Paul’s status as the perpetual Junior Senator from Kentucky. Or whinny little turd. Your pick.
The nomination of Todd Blanche for Attorney General, who is the “former” attorney for the child-rapist president and acting Attorney General, has hit a snag with Texas Senator John Cornyn. Mostly because of the January 6th slush fund and not the bribing Jeffrey Epstein buddy Ghislaine Maxwell. I’m sure a bit is because Trump screwed Cornyn over. And we’re still waiting for Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear to do…something about Mitch McConnell. Let’s just get to comics. This week, we’ve reviewed seven titles. As always, they’re scored on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst.
Something Is Killing The Children - Issue 49
BOOM! Studios
Review by The Wife
Buried history has a way of resurrecting. Cecilia and Jessica’s sisterhood ended at the Vermont Mountain House when Cecilia thought it was more important to maintain the secrecy of the Order than to save the life of a girl. Now, a similar situation has arisen with Bex. And instead of killing her, Cecilia decided to bring her in…perhaps a death postponed. With that said, the history goes deeper than the main story…what does the Dragon have to do with this place? Why does he own it?
Score: 9 out of 10
The Peril Of The Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery - Issue 6
DC / Vertigo
Review by Zachary Hunchar
Ezra goes through one heck of a dog-fight, and then things are just sort of over. I do like that it wrapped up very cleanly. That being said, it felt fairly rushed, but it ended, so it has that going for it. Another fun thing is that the ending left things open for more stories, very much in the Indiana Jones world. There’s an acknowledgment that there are more magic artifacts out there. In the end, I bet this collects well. It certainly fills a niche that should appeal to many. It’s a fun book, and it looks decent. There’s a pulp-quality to it, but I guess I can still hope for higher quality.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Assorted Crisis Events - Issue 9
Image Comics
Review by Zachary Hunchar
This book is a collision of contrasts. On one side, you have this sprawling, multiversal conversion across various times and worlds. On the other side, you have the soul-crushing banality of a gig economy. It’s miserable and beautiful at the same time. The protagonist is trying to help his sister, and he’s asked to do some bonkers things. The jobs themselves are sort of meaningless. Instead, the story is more of a metaphor about how corporations and the wealthy destroy lives without a care, and how all we can do is band together. It’s a strangely pro-union story. Some of the story points are outlandish enough that they don’t quite resonate the way prior issues did. It’s still very good and the artwork and coloring work very well for it.
Score: 8 out of 10
Gambit: Wanted - Issue 1
Marvel Comics
Review by Zachary Hunchar
There have been a few short series by fan-favorite X-Men writer Chris Claremont. I do appreciate Marvel taking the time to work with their older alumni, but I think they’re missing out on some story potential. I think most are less interested in them going back to old things and instead focus on new stuff. The focus on this book is on an era that appeals to some, but I can imagine the majority doesn’t care. New readers are probably going to be confused why Ororo is a child. It’s odd. It does have a good look to it.
Score: 6 out of 10
Star Trek Red Shirts: Ghosts of the 21st Century - Issue 1
IDW Publishing
Review by Zachary Hunchar
The first mini-series was a blast. The characters had a goal, and most died not quite achieving it. But the underlying concept makes sense in a snarky manner, and it worked. This book is odd in that it tries to move the reveal forward from the prior series, which had a significant one. The odd thing is that it doesn’t pick up right where the prior volume ended, but years have passed. The villain is moving up within the ranks of Starfleet, and there is a younger officer scheming to do…something? The motives are murky, and the villain is barely given page time. So, there’s not stakes to what’s happening, which sucks the tension out. Also, the art does little to convey the drama in what is happening.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
The Flash - Issue 35
DC Entertainment
Review by Zachary Hunchar
Writer Ryan North continues to make fun stories with medium stakes that unfold easily. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re in this zone, you’ll probably love this book. Wally’s not the smartest hero, but he’s dedicated and fairly human in his approach. Though he had to outrun Heat Wave’s blast, he came to a simple solution that resolved things peacefully. It’s just refreshing. The secondary storyline about an expansion in a Speed Force power is overly technical. I know Wally is excited, but the thing isn’t all that interesting. I suspect we’re being set up for it failing in the future. There is a clean, minimalist quality to the art, but it works well.
Score: 8 out of 10
Narco - Issue 5
Image Comics
Review by Zachary Hunchar
This mini-series wrapped up, and I’m not exactly sure how we got here. Most of these serial killer stories by this particular creative team have been quite readable. A lot of that has to do with a particularly sympathetic character in the story. This book stumbles because the protagonist is hard to connect with. Not so much on a human level, where he is fine. It’s more about how they presented his narcolepsy, which was more of a plot device and less of an insight into his situation. It seemed random and made things harder to follow. This wasn’t terrible. It just kept losing momentum every time we had to reset our hook. And the art and coloring are solid.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
So, we’re seeing Spider-Man: Brand New Day this weekend. In next week’s column, I’ll give my review. I’m very excited to see it as the general response is extremely positive. I’ve seen some reviews say this is the best of the four Tom Holland Spider-Man movies. I’m just hoping that this can kick-start the momentum Marvel has lost in the past few years. Some of it is their doing with underwhelming scripts. Some is a result of post-Endgame fatigue. I still hold that Chadwick Boseman’s untimely passing screwed everything up, as T’Challa would have been the universe’s anchor. Whatever it is, this year looks to be a nice return to form.
Also, there was a prior column where I talked about a new bunch of suitors for Lionsgate. One of them is a company called Banijay, and just the other day they announced they’re out of the hunt. If I’m being realistic, I bet most of this hoopla was driven by a stockholder (<cough> <cough> <Steven Mnuchin>) who was trying to gin up the value of the stock. Though I can’t say for sure that someone would do this, I believe they would. The choices just seemed unconnected to Hollywood.
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