Rabbit rabbit! Do folks still say that? Anyway, it’s the first day of a new month, and I need all the good luck I can get! I saw Fantastic Four: First Steps last Thursday night, and I promised not to discuss it in last week’s post. Well, you’ve had a week to see it by now, so it’s time to talk. I’m starting to see it’s a good thing to have that one-week buffer, and it gives me time to really process my thoughts, and come down from the “OHMIGOD! A NEW COMIC MOVIE!” high. I am thoroughly grounded at this point, so it’s a good place for us to start.
I loved the film. Honestly, this is how I wanted to feel about James Gunn’s Superman. I don’t want to force comparisons, but it’s going to happen, given they were released two weeks apart. Whereas Superman was a film that “I really liked a lot”, First Steps was a film that I loved. And it’s not a perfect film. It’s not even the best MCU film. I still don’t know about Pedro as Reed, Ben didn’t get a lot to do, and that CGI baby… Still, it didn’t do anything I had expected it to do, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.
First off, I loved the film’s Earth-828 setting, as the retro 60s vibe greatly contributed to setting the tone. I’ve said it in other posts, but I’m still not convinced the time period is actually the 1960s. Instead, I feel like it’s present-day, on a world that simply had its technology develop at a different pace. This is where one of y’all is gonna say “But they showed a newspaper, and the date was 1965!” I liken it to what was done in Batman: The Animated Series, where it was primarily 1940s retro, yet they had computers and lasers. Still, when the characters watched TV, it was black & white, and the police rode in blimps. Similarly, this was supposed to be the 60s, yet the police had flying cars, and their home pregnancy tests beeped. They don’t even do that NOW! I’d like to take this time to point out that, in reality, the at-home pregnancy test was invented by Margaret Crane in 1967, and didn’t receive FDA approval until 1976, hitting the market in 1977. Reed’s a genius, so we can say he invented it, but I’m pretty sure I saw Stark’s name on that handle… (NOTE: My buddy Emilio corrected me that the test said “Stork”!)
I’m not lying when I say that I was instantly pulled into that world, and my mind started wandering. Whenever faced with another universe/timeline, I start to think about all the things that might be different. And my mind eventually wanders over to religion. Wouldn’t be interesting if this was a world where science had been allowed to advance due to the lack of organized religion? I quickly put that theory to rest, though, when Thing uttered “Jesus Christ.” I thought “You mean he’s over here, too?!” Also, there was a synagogue on Yancy Street.
I know folks hated, or skipped, The Eternals, but I was always fascinated by what it revealed about Earth-616 – ultimately that the Judeo-Christian myths were just that: MYTHS. The truth of Earth’s creation was much more impersonal, and ultimately meaningless for humanity. Earth was created to be an incubator of a Celestial seed, and humanity, as well as animal and plant life, pretty much existed to sort of “protect” the seed until the Celestial was ready to be born. That birth takes place in the film, yet it was halted, leaving a giant hand popping up in the Arctic. Had that film performed better, I’d be interested to know how that would play into things in the future. Instead, it’ll probably go in the bin with Secret Invasion, and Jonathan Majors’s Kang costume, as Things We Must Never Discuss.
A big difference I did notice, however, was that there didn’t seem to be segregation here. Black kids and white kids, playing together, and loving the Fantastic Four. I mean, this would have been after Brown vs. Board of Education, plus we’re talking about one of the most diverse cities in the country. The team’s executive assistant is a stern, professional, middle-aged black woman. And she don’t need no man, because there’s a scene where she’s watching a night news broadcast of the team, on her couch, in a robe and curlers. If they wanted us to know she was married, her husband Harold would have been seated right next to her!
I was struck, however, by how the Fantastic Four were this universe’s Kennedys. They were Camelot. Folks followed their every word, and followed Sue’s pregnancy. They both admired and trusted the Richards family. I never got to experience that, and it’s always seemed a little weird. The way folks just fawned over Jackie Kennedy, and they wanted to watch John Jr. as he grew up. I guess that’s what happens when you’re the youngest person to be elected president, but it would be short-lived. JFK was assassinated, and I honestly believe a lot of those folks moved on to be “Crown Jockeys” (is that a thing? Let’s make that a thing), turning their focus to the British Royal Family when Diana entered the picture. I don’t even know what they do these days. The Black Community had a glimmer of that, where it wasn’t uncommon to see a picture of the Obamas set up right next to pictures of actual relatives in folks’ homes. Still, not everyone was so happy about that “reboot”, so it never reached the heights of Kennedy-era levels.
Anyway, the movie itself. It always seemed to zig when I expected it to zag. Surely, their FTL rig will get destroyed next to Galactus’s ship, right? Wrong. Surely, Reed’s teleportation trick will go off without a hitch, right? Wrong. I’ve also mentioned that I was never an FF fan, but I’d always known Reed to be cold, yet confident. So, it was interesting to see Pedro depict him as overcome by anxiety and helplessness. It certainly made him more relatable, but was that “Reed Richards”? Poor Ben didn’t get too many moments to shine, either. I also think they played fast and loose with the scale of Galactus. Given his massive size in his ship, there’s no way he would be able to walk down Fifth Ave, which is only 100 feet wide. Should Galactus even be able to make landfall on a world he plans to eat? I mean, he doesn’t just eat it like an apple, but he still usually addresses it from orbit, due to his massive size.
It did a lot of things really well, though. Sue, as the de facto “heart” of the team, was great. Johnny was finally given a reason to be caught up in all this. I mean, they try to say he’s one of the Earth’s most brilliant minds, but we’d learn Johnny’s “smart in his own way“. Also, the Silver Surfer. Now, I know a lot of clueless folks are mad, saying “Silver Surfer ain’t no girl!”, but they clearly aren’t aware of Shalla-Bal. I hate Cosmic Marvel, and even I know the character. I can’t tell if their depiction of her was correct, but she was a damn exciting Silver Surfer. I think I finally understand why I’ve never liked the character in the comics: You need to actually witness the surfing. She rode the FTL wormhole like there were waves, and it was amazing to watch.
Circling back to The Eternals, the film also dealt with the fact that Galactus – like the Celestials – isn’t a villain, per se. I mean, his goals are at odds with those of the protagonists: They want to live, and he wants to eat their planet. However, he didn’t seek out Earth, as that was the job of his Herald, Silver Surfer. Also, Marvel has started doing a better job of conveying that Galactus is merely a universal occurrence, a force of nature. He doesn’t hate humanity. He doesn’t even really think about humanity. He has one focus, and that’s his never-ending hunger. Were that to go away, he wouldn’t be a threat. In his current state, he’s basically a Space Tsunami. As such, the team doesn’t resort to killing him – they know they probably can’t kill him – but they still sort of respect that he’s a living thing, and just send him away.
In that comparison that I didn’t want to make, Superman is both an inspirational and aspirational character. He thinks humanity is capable of more, and he hopes to inspire. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four truly are inspirational, as they manage to rally all of the nations of the world (except one) to band together, to help them with their plan for Galactus. In the DC Universe, an alien came to Earth to inspire humans that they were capable of more. There’s a reason a lot of writers try to do Christ-parallels with the character. The Fantastic Four, meanwhile, are almost the height of secular humanism. Sure, they had the help of some cosmic rays, but they really do hammer home the idea that “Anything is possible, through cooperation and determination”. The fact that they’re also human (albeit “post-human”) means they’ve got some skin in the game. Superman, however, has the potential to inspire laziness and apathy (“Why should I try? Superman will take care of this.”). Now, Superman doesn’t have to be written that way, but that’s the vibe I felt as the GunnVerse was getting started.
Anyway, go see this movie. If you’re on the fence, it’s totally worth your time, even if some folks think it drags at times. Also, I can’t remember a plot this baby-centric since Ghostbusters II. As always, there’s a mid-credit scene, but it’s nothing to write home about. I’m not gonna say “The MCU is BACK!”, but I think we’re gonna be OK.
So, I posted the trailer to KPop Demon Hunters when it went online, and I said I’d definitely be checking it out. Well, it came out a month ago, and I hadn’t gotten to it. My youngest, however, discovered it before we went to OBX, and became OBSESSED. She was begging me to watch it, and constantly singing all the songs around the house. She’d try to explain the lore to me, but it all sounded like nonsense, coming from her 7-year old mouth. Anyway, I had promised her I’d watch it, so that’s what we finally did this week. And it was AMAZING!
KPop Demon Hunters, produced by Sony Pictures Animation, follows K-pop girl group Huntr/x, a trio who also happen to fight demons in order to strengthen the “Honmoon”, which is the magical barrier that was erected between our worlds. As the story goes, there are demon hunters in every generation, and they’ve always had the cover story of being a singing group. So, we get flashbacks of Korean female trios performing the different pop music styles of the past few decades. As the group’s popularity rises, it strengthens their ability to protect the Honmoon. So, their power is derived from their fans. The Big Bad is a demon named Gwi-Ma, whose attempts at defeating Huntr/x, and breaking the Honmoon, have proved unsuccessful. That changes when a demon named Jinu suggests beating Huntr/x at their own game, by creating a demon boyband to knock them from the top of the charts. The Saja Boys arrive out of nowhere, and successfully steal all of Huntr/x’s fans. It also doesn’t help that Huntr/x lead singer, Rumi, has lost her voice – the result of the fact that she’s secretly half-demon. Will her bandmates find out? Will they be able to secure The Honmoon and get it to the unbreakable “Gold” level, sealing Gwi-Ma out permanently? Meanwhile, the whole thing is filled with original songs, which are honestly more amazing than the K-pop stuff I’ve heard from actual groups! My favorite is probably “Golden”.
Netflix didn’t really promote it heavily, as that’s not what Netflix does. Still, the K-pop angle sort of ensured that its people would find it. And they did! Netflix announced that the film has been their most watched original animated film of all time. The movie got a limited theatrical release in LA and NYC, in order to make it eligible for awards contention. Given the fact that Sony could desperately use a win, though, you’ve got to wonder if they wish they had just gone for a straight theatrical release. I mean, it has certainly been a “grower”, so it might have had a disappointing opening weekend. Still, it had the potential to have made quite a bit of money, had they gone the box office route.
The thing I was most struck by was how…incomplete it feels. By that, I mean that this is a concept with legs. I’m reminded of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir, where it’s a long-form episodic adventure, told across several TV series, and occasionally has movies. That’s what I would have done here. While the three Huntr/x members have distinct personalities, the movie really only explores Rumi. We know that Mira was sort of the black sheep of her family, while Zoey found her “voice” as the rapper of the group. But they don’t get a lot of focus here. I don’t know the dynamics of K-pop groups, but there’s quite a Destiny’s Child AKA “Beyoncé and The Rest” vibe here.
Also, we don’t even see the group’s origin. We’re told that Rumi’s mother was also a demon hunter, but she died at some point, so Rumi was raised by Celine, who trained Huntr/x. What happened there? And Celine seems like the kind of character who isn’t entirely “pure”. Meanwhile, who was the demon that slept with Rumi’s mom? Was it Gwi-Ma? There are a lot of unanswered questions, despite the fact that the movie tells the story it set out to tell. I’m just saying this felt more like the final movie in a trilogy, or at least the culmination of a long-running multimedia franchise, than just a one-off thing. We don’t see their training. We don’t know if there are any major rules or required sacrifices to being a hunter. They never even fail. When we meet them, they’re already the biggest group in Korea. I just feel like it would have been more interesting to watch their rise, prior to the events we see here. Since it has proven to be a success, I have read that Sony and the creators are looking into “expanding the world”, but that feels more like playing catchup, instead of them getting to realize more of a larger story they had originally planned.
Finally, The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, which is actually just season 7 of The Amazing World of Gumball, released its first 20 episodes on Hulu this week. Now, Gumball was one of my favorite pre-Covid shows, and I hated how it ended on a cliffhanger. There were plans to do a movie, but it was seemingly canceled when Zaslav was shoving the Batgirl movie into that closet. So, imagine my surprise when it was not only announced that the show was coming back, but also going to Hulu! This is probably advantageous, however, as we have Xfinity, which just announced that they’re moving Cartoon Network to a higher tier next month, effectively making it a premium channel. So, I’d have to pay an extra $10 a month just to watch 5 hours of Teen Titans Go! everyday. I bought those DVDs for a reason, so I guess I might become a cord-cutter after all!
Anyway, Gumball. There’s a funny little cold open to address the fact that the show has been gone, but it actually does not pick up where it left off. I’m sort of fine with that, as that finale featured a showdown between Gumball and his nemesis, Rob, and that dynamic is probably my least favorite thing about the franchise. Plus, Rob was warning of some impending doom, so it’s possible they’ll get to is later in the season.
I only watched the premiere, which was a smart exploration as to why it’s so hard to regularly eat healthy food. I swear that the CN cartoons do a better job of explaining complex concepts than the US education system. Just watch the TTG! episode about real estate investing! They’re teaching kids about Escrow! Anyway, it didn’t come back with a bang or anything, but was more like the return of an old friend. Apparently, this was a 40-episode order (like most modern cartoons, an “episode” is just 11 minutes), so I’m going to stretch these out to make them last.
Trailer Park
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Paramount+, 2026)
Is it possible to have a long-running franchise, and not fall prey to “fan service”? I think Doctor Who seems to do pretty well about that, and the fans call out the writers when it stumbles. I have enjoyed some modern Star Trek, yet I continually feel like present-day Paramount+ doesn’t understand Star Trek. Yeah, everyone loved Star Trek: Picard‘s final season, but that was fan service out the wazoo. Was it everything we thought we wanted from that show? Yes. However, I’m one of the rare creatures who enjoyed the first two seasons for what they were. And, even then, it didn’t understand the world in which it operated. I refuse to believe that Jean-Luc Picard would just be OK living out his days in a cloned body, and I was offended they never really dealt with that. Star Trek is a franchise that always asked the “hard questions”, and was a reflection of present-day life and society. Even though it was heavy-handed as Hell, TNG did that nonbinary episode better than anything that they could try to make today. And I’m just not sure why they keep getting it wrong. Is it the budget? Do they simply have too much money now, so they’re going for style over substance?
Anyway, this trailer is doing it again. I mean, I already dislike the idea that it’s set in the 32nd century, because it’s just another example of Paramount going to a “safe space”. With the TV side at odds with the film side, we had about 20 years where no one was touching “present-day” Star Trek. Everything was a prequel or reboot. We never got to see Starfleet rebuild from the Dominion War. We never got to see the repercussions of Voyager getting home. Sure, Janeway became an Admiral, but other than that? Nothing. From 2002-2018, we didn’t get a single thing showing us the state of the galaxy post-Star Trek: Nemesis. Once we got to Picard, so much had changed in that span of time, and much of it was at odds at what we’d been told. There was poverty on Earth. There was substance abuse. Maybe they’d gotten rid of “money”, but there were still class differences. Had we been sold a lie all this time, or had things changed? And I think Paramount did the fans a disservice by not exploring that.
This trailer is dangling things we love, but none of them really make sense. This show is set 1,000 years after everything we knew. Is my life concerned with much from the year 1025? Unless he shows up, does it even matter what the Ultimate Fate of Benjamin Sisko was? The James T. Kirk Pavilion? Yeah, I’m sure he would hate that. Hell, I was more touched that Discovery showed us the Federation had named a ship after Nog. That, too, didn’t make much sense, but he was the first Ferengi in Starfleet, so it wasn’t unearned. The writers could build up other characters, though. The Mackenzie Calhoun Pavilion would have been a nice tribute to writer Peter David (who created the character in his New Frontier novels), and it would also serve to formally add the character to live action canon. I’ve always wanted to see a Jem’Hadar in Starfleet, but they age to maturity in 3 days, and there are only males. So, how would they even exist this long after the war? So, is that a middle aged, female Jem’Hadar in a Starfleet uniform, or is it one of those genetically messed up Klingons? And why is Space Giamatti whistling the TOS intro? I always want Star Trek to succeed, but what is Star Trek in 2025? Lower Decks seemed to get it, but that was a show structurally built on fan service. Maybe the Star Trek I want can only be found in old media at this point. Oh, and the black girl is a hologram. Start your thinkpieces!
The Pickup (Prime Video, August 8th)
This looks like the kind of mediocre comedy we’ve come to expect from streamers, so I don’t really think it’s going to be amazing. No, I’m more impressed by the business side of things. The stars of this movie were both the youngest SNL cast members of their time, and they both became huge – Eddie, for being funny, and Pete, for where he was sticking his penis. They’re gonna have to bronze that thing after he retires! Anyway, their paths never should have crossed. Eddie should be way bigger, while Pete should be the star and executive producer of a Dude, Where’s My Car? reboot. Meanwhile, it’s directed by Tim Story – the same guy who, 20 years ago, was trusted with Fox’s first stab at the Fantastic Four, and he helmed Barbershop. He’d go on to do the Ride Along franchise, and I could easily see this as having been a reconfigured script for a Ride Along 3. I always want to see the Prime Video movies, as they seem to be making the most “accessible” comedies these days, but it’s the streamer that I always forget I have. This comes out next week, so maybe I’ll get bored and remember it exists, just in time.
Preparation for the Next Life (Theaters, September 5)
The phrase “Oscar Bait” is thrown around with derision, but sometimes a movie is simply good, and deserving of any accolades it receives. This looks that good. It certainly seems timely, and I like that I don’t know either of these actors from anything (despite the fact it seems the guys has been acting for a while). This could be really powerful, or it could land in heavy-handed way, a la 2004’s Crash. There’s no way I’m seeing this in a theater, but I’ll certainly track it down when it’s streaming.
Run The Numbers
I don’t really know what did it. Maybe I was caught up in the excitement surrounding First Steps, or maybe it was the fact that the first volume of this series was offered as a Bonus Borrow on the Hoopla app this month. Whatever it was, I found myself reading the first collection of volume 7 of Silver Surfer, called New Dawn. Collecting the first five issues of the Dan Slott/Mike Allred run, I enjoyed it so much that I proceeded to read not only the rest of volume 7, but also the entirety of volume 8, on the Marvel Unlimited app. I’ve said it before. Hell, I even said it earlier in this post: I hate Cosmic Marvel. That especially goes for characters like Thanos, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer. That’s why I can’t believe that I’m saying this: Not only was this the best thing I’ve read this year, but this might be one of my favorite comic runs EVER.
Now, going into it, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I know Slott is divisive, but I’ve usually enjoyed his writing. Meanwhile, I enjoy Allred’s art, even though I know it’s not always the “right fit” for a story. I mean, I bought X-Statix primarily because of his art. In fact, I can’t even remember who wrote that series (I looked it up. It was Peter Milligan). And I still didn’t think he was the right choice for that book, despite him being the “draw” for me. Here, however, he turned out to be the PERFECT fit, and it all comes down to a character introduced here, named Dawn Greenwood.
Now, I’m not great at describing art, as I try to explain how it makes me feel, and folks aren’t always on the same page. When I describe Jae Lee’s art, I say I dislike it because ‘his characters don’t look like they have souls”. I dislike Frank Quitely art because “his characters all look like they sat in the tub too long”. With Allred, his characters have a “hollow” look to them. I don’t know if it’s because of how he goes about inking his work, but there’s a lot of…”empty space” in them, and not always a lot behind the eyes.
With Dawn Greenwood, however, I was immediately smitten. You see, Allred also has this thing where all of his women tend to look the same, and that look is a cute hipster scene girl from the late 90s. Allred female characters always have a Sexy-Cute vibe to them, and he brought that in spades to Dawn. So, right off the bat, you’re taken in by her look, but her personality is what sells it. Pretty quickly, you think she’s just a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG). She’s easily a Zooey Deschanel character. When we meet her, she’s a roughly 21 year old woman, who helps run her father’s New England bed & breakfast. She has a twin sister, Eve, who longed to go out and explore the world, while Dawn felt that their little seaside town was the most perfect place in the world. Her perspective changes, however, when she’s abducted from her home, and used as leverage to get Silver Surfer to perform a task for an alien race. Surfer is confused as to why Dawn was chosen, as he’s never seen her before in his life. Meanwhile, Dawn takes to space like it’s nothing, and not only frees herself, but also her fellow prisoners. Impressed by how she well she handled herself, Surfer asks if she’d like to travel with him, and explore the galaxy.
While the MPDG trope is initially seems to be present, over the course of their adventures, Dawn gains more awareness and starts leading a lot of their adventures. And, it’s at that point, that I realized I was reading Doctor Who. Now, I’ve never watched that show, but I know it. It’s pretty ingrained in pop culture, especially where science fiction is concerned. Silver Surfer is an ancient being, who spent a lot of time on Earth, and thinks he knows everything about humanity. Dawn, meanwhile, is his Companion, who continues to show Surfer new sides of humanity. Of course there’s a Will They/Won’t They Component, but it’s almost deeper than mere romantic love. I would hesitate to say there’s a “romantic comedy” component, as there’s no awkward morning after scene or anything like that. Instead, there are the familiar beats of them getting closer, and then she finds out something about his past that completely shatters how she seems him. And once they finally get over that hump, it happens again.
Dawn is also reminiscent of another character, Layla Miller, who was introduced in Peter David’s last X-Factor run. We were always led to believe that there was more to Layla than it seemed, and she was initially introduced as a preteen girl. When they tried to understand her mutant power, she would simply say “I know stuff”. So, she had something of precognition going on, but it only really kicked in to help the story along. Over the course of her existence, she would end up being aged up, and become a love interest for Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man. While I’m not sure her knowledge of “stuff” ever paid off in as major a way as we’d been expecting, I did feel a similar thing with Dawn, where she was clearly brought into all of this for a reason, and that it would become apparent over the course of the run.
The first batch of stories was during the Marvel NOW era of the early 2010s, and that series was 15 issues. Following a short story in the Marvel NOW special, the creative teams returned for another 14 issues. There’s an underlying sadness to the story, as the reader knows that the characters’ happiness can’t last. Every now and then, we’ll get a glimpse from the future, seemingly indicated their days are numbered. This is important, because the more agency that Dawn gains, the more you love her, and the more you’re rooting for them, and the more you’re bracing for it all to fall apart.
Meanwhile, Silver Surfer is much more multifaceted than I’d ever realized. He’s the X-Men’s Gambit on a greater scale. Gambit was originally quiet and sullen because his big secret was that he had worked for Mr. Sinister during the “Mutant Massacre” event, which resulted in the murder of a huge portion of the Morlocks – mutant refugees who lived in the sewer. Meanwhile, Surfer was trying to make amends for that fact that, for centuries, he had served as Galactus’s Herald in return for Galactus sparing his home planet of Zenn-La. Before he became the Surfer, Zenn-Lavian astronomer Norrin Radd was bored with his “perfect” society, and longed to see the stars. So, he’s the opposite of Dawn, as his home was the last place he wanted to be. However, over time, he began to realize he hadn’t missed it until it was gone.
So, you’ve got two characters, with different ideas of “Home”, who are trying to see if they can find that in each other. It’s just such a beautiful saga, and I read it all in about 24 hours. I simply couldn’t put it down. Also, we give a lot of creators like Jonathan Hickman or Donny Cates credit for playing the long game, and sowing seeds for future stories, but they can’t hold a candle to what Slott accomplishes here. The ending is masterful, to the point where you start trying to fact check it, only to realize “Nope, that’s accounted for.” He dotted every “i”, and crossed every “t”. It’s the perfect run. It doesn’t require any prior knowledge, and easily stands on its own. I know there have been a couple of runs since this one, so I don’t know if Surfer retained any of his character development. All I know is that this is the Silver Surfer story that I never knew I needed, and Dawn Greenwood is my favorite new character in a very long time. I can’t recommend this highly enough!
Will Around The Web
Adam and I have a new episode of Remember That Show?, where we’re inching ever closer to the Power Rangers franchise. Seeing as how everyone remembers that show, however, we instead turn our focus to Saban’s Masked Rider. While this live action Fox Kids series followed the same formula as Saban’s other American/Japanese hybrids, it just didn’t catch on as much as Beetleborgs or even VR Troopers. You can learn more about our thoughts here.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- It was announced that, following the split of Warner Bros Discovery, the separate companies will be known as Warner Bros and Discovery Global respectively. Ya know, I’m old enough to remember AOL Time Warner. WB just ain’t good at relationships…
- President Curtis was announced at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, which will be a Rick and Morty spinoff, focused on that show’s president and his staff. I already feel like the main Rick and Morty series should have ended after last season, so I don’t know about this. Maybe it’ll turn out like American Dad, though, and end up funnier than the show that came before it.
- Chicago Cubs icon Ryne Sandberg passed away this week, from metastatic prostate cancer, at the age of 65. While I’m not a sports guy, I was a huge 90s baseball card collector, so I am very familiar with this man. It used to drive me up the wall that his name was spelled like that!
- It was a VERY strange week for celebrity couples, as it was revealed during the press tour for The Naked Gun that stars Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson are dating. Meanwhile, it was reported that Katy Perry and former Canadian prime minister Justine Trudeau were seen out on a date in Montreal.
- After videos of recent lackluster, phoned-in concert performances went viral, Justin Timberlake announced on Instagram that he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease.
- Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced she will release 107 Days next month, which is a memoir about her presidential campaign. Read the room, Kamala! Nobody wants to read this. Start a podcast instead. I’d rather know your favorite Judd Apatow movie than hear about “What Went Wrong”…
Ya know, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but my week was made by the Silver Surfer – both onscreen and in print. I will say that I wanted more from Julia Garner’s depiction in the film. I liked what we got, but we could have gotten more. I mean, her “face turn” was a little too convenient. She had aided in the destruction of HOW many worlds, yet Johnny Storm was the one to break the spell? Oh, well. Movies!
Meanwhile, I still can’t get over that Slott/Allred comic run. I want to own it in all the formats, which isn’t easy when it comes to a decade-old, lower selling comic. But I’m gonna do it!
So, for these reasons and more, the Silver Surfer had the West Week Ever,
