Is this month over yet? Ugh! Anyway, I didn’t watch a ton this week, other than Hulu’s King of the Hill revival. As I said before, I’ve been trying to space them out, in order to make them last longer. Just some random thoughts:
- Bill’s obsession with Peggy has increased to almost psychotic levels this season. This is especially odd, given that there’s an episode I watched, which should have resolved all that, yet it continued the very next episode.
- Don’t love the new voices for Dale or Khan. I get why they’d want to “keep it in the family” for the Dale recasting, but Toby Huss isn’t doing a great Dale. I think the Cleveland situation on Family Guy taught us that there’s certainly some YouTuber out there who could have easily filled that role, and we wouldn’t have even noticed a difference.
- I don’t know if I ever loved Connie, but I certainly don’t like 21 year old Connie, as she’s now Just Another Girl. She was an exceptional student as a kid, who was always something of an outcast. Now, however, she’s seemingly being accepted, and falling prey to all the foolishness folks the rest of her age go through. I saw young adult Connie as being something of a sheltered, Amy Farrah Fowler virgin. Instead, she’s trying to convince herself that she’s fine with Ethical Non Monogamy, and she’s in a situationship with a guy she always hated. This is like when college era Boy Meets World removed everything about Topanga that made her special.
- Hank’s secret love for soccer is SO Hank, and was such a great idea for an episode.
- I love that Bobby is still an “old soul”, who doesn’t understand the subtext involved in texting. “What do four exclamation points mean?!”
- I know she’s just thrown in for conflict, forming a love triangle for Bobby, but I loved Willow way quicker than I expected to. Sure, she’s introduced as a dumpster-diving weirdo, but she’s got a good heart, even if she’s drowning in red flags. Also – and I’m not sure if this was their intention – she’s sort of like Bizarro Luann. You still get the same positive energy she exuded, yet it’s in a different wrapper now. Given the fact that Hank took a shine to her, I hope they continue to form some sort of bond. Mainly, I want her around because I just really don’t love “Cobby” as the endgame here.
- Still don’t get why Brian is still around, but you can’t hate any appearance by Keith David, so…
Anyway, I’ve got about 3 episodes to go. I don’t want them to end, but I’m glad that Hulu is moving forward with an additional 10 episodes. The original order was always for 20 episodes, but with the way networks are acting lately, I really appreciated this week’s confirmation that Hulu would be releasing those in 2026.
Run The Numbers
Is our hero gonna make his Book goal this year? I’m not so sure, True Believer! I mean, I think I’ll put it off, but this is the last weekend of August, meaning I’ve got 4 more months to pull it off. I can do it! Anyway, nothing I read this week blew my socks off, but I’ve still got thoughts.
First up, I read The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, from IDW. Since that company basically laid off all of their Marketing team, they don’t really promote anything without Godzilla or Star Trek in the title. So, when this title was released, I grabbed the first issue since, well, I grab the first issue of anything. Still, didn’t know anything about it, other than, based on the title, I supposed there was a demon in the White House. Ya know, the unelected type.
So, the story revolves around the first woman to be elected president, and what’s basically the first month of her term. Her political enemies are trying to find her weaknesses, while she’s forced to fight battles on two different fronts. First off, intelligence operatives have been investigating possible cases of Havana Syndrome, with evidence suggesting there might be an attack on DC. Secondly, her teenaged kids have just started at a local Catholic school, where they’re struggling to fit in. The cool kids take to the son, but the younger daughter is ostracized. After an incident in science class, she has a seizure and is sent home. So, the president has to push back against colleagues pushing for war against the nation responsible for the attacks, while also trying to determine if her daughter’s strange behavior is the result of Havana Syndrome – which would constitute an act of war – or if their source is more…supernatural.
This was a book that never really met its full potential. It touches on some interesting ideas, like how the demon is feeding off the daughter’s obsession with doomscrolling on social media. As you can imagine, the manosphere/right wing influencers love any chance that allows them to take Madam President down a peg. So, there’s a LOT of posts to rile the daughter up. At only 4 issues (despite a double-sized #1), it either needed to be longer or better paced. Also, the art. It’s moody and fitting, yet “untraditional”. It serves the story, but it’s still jarring in some ways.
It also did something that’s a “Me Problem”, but was present nonetheless. See, the president is a white woman, while her husband is a black man. Their kids are a black son, and a white daughter. Neither are mixed. So, this means this is a blended family – the kids were born to whatever monoracial relationship the parents were in at that time. Whatever. I mean, it’s 2025, and every nationwide ad campaign features a multiracial family. That’s not The Problem. No, I’m saying that I don’t like a situation like this, where it’s never discussed, and we’re just supposed to act like we don’t notice, despite the fact that it seems like acknowledging it would have informed the story in some way. Surely the online trolls were talking about it, right? Instead, all their posts were about her being “weak” or “distracted”. Maybe there was something there that might have gotten cut from a potential 5th issue. This was one of those scenarios where the racial choices felt more like an empty gesture, where the characters were all possibly created as the same race, but then Editorial stepped in, with, “Hey, what if we…?” What does that accomplish? That’s not actual Representation. Anyway, you can probably skip this one. It stuck the landing, but doesn’t mean much without a sequel or something, as it sets up a lot of unnecessary stuff for no reason.
Next up, I read Gray Horses, which was a graphic novel by Hope Larson. Now, back when I was at Diamond, Larson was an Indie Darling, though I pretty much knew her as “Mrs. Scott Pilgrim”. You see, she was the then-wife of Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, and it was the lead-up to the movie, which was supposed to make him a household name. That didn’t exactly happen, and I think they got divorced before the film even came out. Still, that was my introduction to her, and I later found some of her work. As I learned more about the small press indie comics scene, I realized a lot of those releases don’t really have a plot. Instead of a story arc, there are a lot of “slice of life” cutesy narratives about twentysomethings trying to figure it all out. I think the idea was “The characters don’t have it all figured out, so why should the creator?” Awards judges ate it up, but it feels kinda…lazy. Gray Horses is a prime example of one of those comics.
We’re introduced to Noémie, a French girl who has just arrived to America…for some reason. We meet her in the airport, as she experiences the culture shock of being in a new country. Her thoughts are in French, but translated in English for the reader. A lot of these characters tend to be aloof, quirky twee girls, so you either really love that or loathe it. Noémie sees a girl on the train, and later they just become best friends. There’s a weird boy, who follows Noémie around and takes Polaroids of her. And she kinda likes it? There’s a boy back home, but who is he? What happened there? And then we learn that she hasn’t moved to America, but is actually just there for the summer? And don’t even get me started on the weird dreams she starts having, which somehow cross over to the “real world”. It’s just sort of pretentious. I can’t tell if Larson tried too hard or didn’t try hard enough. So, it’s a quick read at only 112 pages, but it’s the sort of thing you should only read if you’re trying to meet a reading quota or something.
Finally, I read the first collected volume of BOOM! Studios horror anthology Hello Darkness. I think the goal here was to be reminiscent of the old EC horror anthologies, and there’s even a “mascot”, in the form of a goth Neo-Elvira analogue, with a red streak in her black hair, who appears on all the main covers. Like most anthologies, though, it is uneven. VERY uneven. That’s, ultimately, what seems to bring down most anthologies, in that the quality isn’t spread throughout the project, but rather peppered in between weaker spots. There are some stories, that are about 3 pages, that hint at a greater story to be told. One example is “Contagious”, where the local kids seem to be passing along some sort of “force” to each other that leads them to kill their family. There’s also “The Siren”, about a lighthouse keeper who has resisted the charms of a siren in the water, as he knows he’s safe on land – that is, until the siren somehow shows up with LEGS!
Outside of a few examples like the ones I mentioned, the main draw of the book is in the form of two serialized stories. First up, there’s a brand new Something Is Killing The Children story from creator James Tynion IV. Given this is one of BOOM!’s most popular ongoing series, it makes sense for them to use it this way, but it also feels like that: it’s being used. I doubt anything that moves the SIKTC story along will occur in this story outside of the main title. Plus, in the four issues collected in Vol 1, there is only ONE installment of the SIKTC story. So, it’s like Tynion told them “Here’s your damn story, so you’d better find some way to make it last!” I’m a casual SIKTC reader, but I can tell you not much happens here.
The other main draw is called “The War”, written by Garth Ennis, with art by Becky Cloonan. While Ennis is known for his “out there” style, he’s surprisingly grounded here. The problem, however, is that the story is SO DAMN DARK. Set in a world and climate similar to our current one, a group of friends are sitting around, discussing how the Ukraine/Russia conflict could lead to nuclear war. As the group members provide more and more reasons as to why it feels like the darkest time in humanity, their blowhard know-it-all friend swears it’ll never happen, as clear heads always prevail. He even cites how the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved by two men on a phone call. He assures them they’re overreacting for nothing. And then things start to move very quickly. Let’s just say he was wrong.
Parts 1-4 are collected here, and they’re intense. Whether its the privileged guy and his girlfriend who have gotten seats on the last plane out of NYC, or the couple stuck in the subway train, or the couple where one partner was outside at the time of the attack, every aspect is riveting, yet depressing. It’s the sort of story that could serve as a cautionary tale. However, with the absence of “cooler heads”, it feels more like a prophecy. In fact, I’m not so sure I even want to finish it. BOOM! knows this is the golden goose of the bunch – so much so that they’ve collected Parts 1-4 of “The War” as a standalone comic that hit stands a few weeks ago. At this point, they could honestly just cancel Hello Darkness, fold the SIKTC story into its main series, and continue collecting The War as its own comic. Anyway, I think that story has ended in the ongoing, so Lord only knows if anything as strong has replaced it.
Will Around The Web
Adam and I took a trip back the 80s, but it wasn’t even for our show! No, our pal Gerry invited us back to the Totally Rad Christmas Podcast, where we discussed Rubik, The Amazing Cube. I had never watched the cartoon before, and I’m already trying to forget it. That said, we all had a great conversation about the insanity that we watched, so you should check it out!
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- In a stunning move, the new regime at Paramount “unrenewed” Dexter: Original Sin, which was the prequel series in the hit Showtime franchise
- With 236 million views, KPop Demon Hunters has surpassed Red Notice to become Netflix’s most-watched film of all time.
- Speaking of streaming, the Peacock ad-free tier, Premium Plus, will be available as an add-on in Prime Video Channels. So, if you’re dumb enough to pay $16.99 a month just to watch Rutherford Falls, well, there ya go.
- Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg are in talks to develop a Knight Rider film for Universal. Meh. I’d rather A24 develop it: “A young couple stumbles upon a classic car that reveals itself to have nefarious intentions. Directed by Ari Aster. Rated R for Strong Sexual Content, Graphic Nudity, and Adult Language” I hear there’s even a scene where Dave Franco has sex with the car!
- Snoop Dogg criticized the LGBT representation in the film Lightyear, saying that he didn’t feel comfortable taking his grandkids to the theater with that stuff in there. Yeah, the guy who once rapped “Got bitches in the livin’ room, gettin’ it on” clutched his pearls. Unless he was running a dog breeding operation, he’s no stranger to lesbians…
- Finally, it’s a bloodbath over at Studio 8H at 30 Rock, as a bunch of writers (Rosebud Baker, Celeste Yim), Featured Players (Emil Wakim), and Reparatory Players (Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, and Heidi Gardner) were let go from Saturday Night Live. And I don’t think Lorne is done yet.
Someone is in her Bride Era, as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced their engagement this week. I’m supposed to be happy for them, and yet? I mean, I wish them no ill will, but I don’t love the timing, as it’s so close to the announcement of the new album. Like, they’re really starting to feel like a Business™ now. That was never a secret, but I’m beginning to feel more like a consumer than a fan.
I don’t really glom onto celebrity marriages, as they rarely work out. I think it helps that Travis has his own stuff going on, and he’s not in the same industry. Otherwise, competition would tear them apart. I just wonder what Travis does in 15 years, when he’s long out of football, and LiveNation is building a new casino for Taylor’s Vegas residency. Based on what I saw in Happy Gilmore 2, he’s certainly not going into acting. And he’s gotta find something to do before he gets that call to replace Frank Thomas as a Nugenix Total-T spokesman. Whatever. I’ll just shake it off, and worry about my own life. Good for them! Taylor & Travis had the West Week Ever.