The comic book industry is at a crossroads. The proliferation of variants, events, reboots, and relaunches has built towards a crescendo. Over the next few years, the bottom is going to fall out. Or so some have speculated. These soothsayers have been quick to compare the state of the industry to the crisis of infinite pouches that was the 90’s. Rest assured the death of comic books has been greatly exaggerated. However, there is no denying that there has been a degree of stagnation in recent years from both the House of Ideas and its “distinguished competition”. The latter may have gone someway to righting the ship, but the best comic books have to offer have come from the independent and small press scene. Creator-owned books have been the breeding ground in which innovation from a storytelling and craft perspective has flourished. Small Press Day is a celebration of this comic renaissance, a showcase for what makes this medium and its community unique.
Small Press Day is a comics festival in the truest sense invoking the conventions of old. Whereas some modern conventions tend to focus on wider elements of geek and pop culture, Small Press Day is all about comics as a medium and what we have to say about them. Now in its second year, it seeks events being hosted across Ireland and the UK from signings and workshops to panels and exhibitions. Its an occasion for fans and creators to come together to discuss the craft and form of comics books rather than allow themselves to get bogged down in questions of multi-universal continuity. In doing so, they aim not only to showcase top local talent, but encourage new creators to pursue their dreams. For many the idea of being involved in the creative side of comics can seem like a pipe-dream, but part of the message of Small Press Day is that all it takes is the will to act. If you want to be a writer then write. If you want to be an artist go and draw. If you are into lettering or colouring pursue those avenues. It challenges the notion that the only worthy entry into the field is through the mainstream and offers the chance to learn from the experiences of micro-publishers.
Ireland’s contribution to Small Press Day 2017, set to take place at the Fumbally Exchange community hub, is worthy of some praise. Championed by some of the stalwarts Irish indie scene, it hosts an impressive line-up of 22 creators showcasing their work. This alone would make it a must for comic fans, but the lads have gone not just a step further, but a leap. This all-star squad of Irish creators will be taking part in panels throughout the day with a focus on their approach to comics and how newcomers can get into small press publishing themselves. This is a comic event as it should be, one determined to lay the groundwork for future creators to grow from. These talks and workshops should prove just as informative to fans as they do for aspiring writers and artists. It also helps that there’s set to be a whiskey tasting to accompany all the fine comic talk. It is thirsty work after all.
As we’ve highlighted time and time again, comics are an incredible medium for telling stories and one that doesn’t nearly get enough credit as it deserves. For those who try to argue that comics are defined solely from the superheroic antics of Marvel and DC, Small Press Day proves that there is an entire world of possibility out there. Everyone has a story in them and they don’t need anyone’s permission to get it out there. If there is an associated event in your area, you owe it to yourself to go along. If there isn’t, work on setting one up next year. Small Press Day is important because it gives us the opportunity to talk about everything wonderful about this medium. It allows creators swap, skills, stories, and impart advice on to those that will come after. This is the space in which they get to experiment and produce work that pushes comics forward as an art form. On a more fundamental level it is the premier opportunity to get the message out loud and clear. Comics are for everyone.
Previously on ‘The Mist‘ – Mia was shifty. Bryan reminded everyone there was something in the mist. Eve killed a man and lied to everyone. Nathalie broke out the wine. There you go – fully caught up on episode two.
“She’s the only friend I have.”
We start episode three in the church. Everyone is slowly waking up after a heavy night on the holy wine. As Connor sleeps on a pew, Adrian uses the time to shine his torch in his eyes. We see various people getting ready for another day in the church. This includes Kevin having a wash and a character who has a rather large moth tattoo on his back. With no coffee on offer, Adrian and Kevin decide to catch up. Both are worried about Alex, however, Kevin has a plan up his sleeve. There’s a car outside and he plans to use it to get to his family.
In the Mist Mall, Alex is watching the world go by. Eve comes by to check on her, the two exchange small talk. It’s a nice scene, Eve tells a mom story, while Alex confesses that she’s scared. Uncertain as to what could be causing her daughter to be scared (really??), Eve asks her. “I’m stuck in a mall with the guy who raped me.”
“Why the hell is the military here?”
Elsewhere in the mall, Jay has alerted Gus to the dead solders hanging around behind him. After cutting down the bodies, they discover dog tag’s on them. Anyone who’s seen the movie would have seen this coming a mile away, the whole scene is very similar to the movie. With the realization that the military is involved, it raises a whole lot of questions. If only Eve hadn’t killed one of the soldiers last week. (Poor Red Shirt Clint – nobody’s even asked after him!)
“They know what’s happening out there!”
Wheeling the bodies out of the bathroom in shopping trolleys instills further panic into the mall group. Using this moment to capitalize on his own plans, Gus reveals that they are going to have to search for dog tags on everyone after they dispose of the bodies. (They’re thinking freezers in the food court.) The last soldier standing tries to sneak off while everyone is talking about the military reveal. There’s a little bit of rough housing and the poor soldier is forced to reveal that he’s not in a high enough position to be told anything. These three scene’s have given us a really good glimpse into the mentality at the mall. Here’s a hint – it’s not good!
“It’s as if all of nature came alive.”
Back in the church and Nathalie is talking to Moth-Man. (Admittedly that’s not his real name, but he has a giant moth tattoo on his back and I didn’t catch his name once during the three viewings of the episode!) They discuss everything that is going on and she recalls her morning with the frogs and moths in her garden. She brings up her research in the library and mentions “black spring”. I assumed it’s like Black Friday where everyone goes mad for a plasma TV, but I was wrong. It’s a local legend about nature getting revenge on man. Moth-Man ask’s Nathalie what she was looking at through the windows. She asks him if he see’s the gray shape in the distance, when he ask’s what it was she simply replies “Benedict”.
Elsewhere in the church Kevin and Connor have yet another argument. Kevin has decided that it’s time to leave and go to the mall for his wife and daughter. Connor being the dick he is naturally disagree’s. He has no intention of letting Mia or Bryan leave. I’d be shocked, but he’s been such an epic dick for the last few episodes. I was actually expecting this response from him. To further increase his feeling of superiority he locks Mia and Brian in the basement.
“We could choose to trust each other.”
Mia is in full withdrawal now but Bryan isn’t paying her much attention. He’s busy having a root around the boxes in the church for something. After passing her both her coat and some drugs she had stashed, he unlocks her with the paperclip he’s just found. (Connor is going to be so pissed off!) They share another nice moment where the two decide to trust each other only. Mia admit’s “I could really use some body to trust.” Awww. This nice guy routine from Bryan further cements my belief that he’s going to turn out to be a bastard later in the season.
“Who’s pointless now bitch?”
Mamma Eve has a plan in the Mist Mall. She’s moving and taking Alex with her. I understand her thought process here, but lets face it – Jays in the mall and there’s very little she can do to get away from him. The guys from the video game store are sitting playing on a blank TV after being chastised by Gus. They come up with the bright idea to use the two bodies in the freezer as bait to finally discover what’s in the mist. (As idea’s go, this isn’t actually terrible!)
“I remember the dog.”
Bryan and Mia get to know each other. Sadly Mia discovers that playing this game with an amnesia sufferer isn’t actually that much fun. Much like Jon Snow – Bryan know’s nothing. She starts crying when he admit’s that he has no memory other than the dog. (After reading some of the reactions to the first episode, that dog will not be forgotten by a lot of people!) They share another moment and have a hug. Mia’s walls are down and she finally trusts Bryan. I’m going to say next episode he’ll get his memory back and be evil.
“She’s a murderer!”
Elsewhere in the church, Kevin and Adrian discuss who’s coming with them. When Kevin suggest Mia, Adrian doesn’t want her to join them because she’s a murder. Kevin points out that under the circumstances it’s OK that she killed. He sneaks to the basement door and has a conversation with Mia through the door and finds out that she can hot wire a car. The great escape has begun!
Adrian and Father Romanov discuss fear. Romanov admit’s that he knows Adrian’s mother, she used to be a regular attendee of his church until Adrian’s dad came along. He hint’s that Daddy Adrian isn’t a nice guy and he know’s about it. Adrian discusses his sexuality and the pair share quite a nice moment that actually manages to flesh out the characters. (one of my biggest gripes with the show thus far.) Connor chooses this moment to point out that he thinks Adrian is a liar who’s framing his son. It gets quite heated when Kevin gets involved and the two finally come to blows. As a result Kevin finds himself locked up in the basement.
The two gamer guys manage to get into the freezer and steal the bodies of the dead soldiers. After leaving them outside they wait to see what happens next. Meanwhile Alex and Eve are hunting for supplies to help them with the move. They split up (naturally) to get more bits.
While in the card shop Jay sneaks up on Alex like a dog at a disco. In quite a tense scene, he admit’s that he never raped her. He simply helped her upstairs into bed, put a blanket on her and left her to sleep it off. Furthermore he points out that Adrian is a liar if he said otherwise.
Nathalie has decided that it’s time for her go. Unlike Kevin she’s not waiting for Connor to allow her and walks out. She’s followed by Moth-Man who wants to stop her. Outside the church and the mist begins to thicken around them. The camera follows a moth as it flutters towards Nathalie’s friend and flies into him. Thus begins a metamorphosis into an actual Moth-Man. It’s quite a well done scene and my fear of moth’s had a field day in my dreams that night. After he dies, Nathalie announces she’s seen God to a panic-stricken church.
Alex tells Eve about her encounter with Jay. While her daughter is crying Eve does her best to reassure her (and gets that “I’m-going-to-kill-him-with-my-bare-hands” look on her face from last episode.) By the doors and the last remaining soldier see’s his friends outside in the parking lot. He is NOT happy. Gus appears like a bad penny and tells off the gamers. Yet again he uses the situation to his advantage and announces that they need to establish rules in the mall. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that this won’t end well.
“Satan lost his bet.”
The death of Moth-Man has naturally upset everyone in the church. (It’s also given me nightmares, but that’s neither here not there.) Father Romanov has lost all the color from his face and shares the story of Jobe with a shaken Adrian. He thinks that the mist is a chance for God to show how much he loves everyone by destroying their lives. (I have an aunt like this.) Adrian decides that now would be a good time to get baptized and wash away his sins.
Gus opens the floor to the new rules. Anyone can suggest something and it will go to a vote. They decide on the following rules – 1. Ration Food. 2. No stealing/looting other than food. 3. Whoever endangers the group gets kicked out the mall. The last suggestion is met by gasps. Eve, however, isn’t a fan of rules and announces that she’s going. More decide to join her which naturally upsets some people. In the distraction, Eve grabs a gun and point’s it at Jay. She’s not staying here with them – Gus allows her and the new group to go to a separate part of the mall but tells them not to come back to them.
“I am a sinner!”
Adrian gets baptized by Father Romanov. Adrian thanks him afterward and steals the keys to the basement. His whole thing was an act! Sadly Romanov doesn’t notice so Kevin and co get broken out of the basement. The great escape is on! Kevin even manages to punch Connor and get his gun before the awesome foursome escape. Adrian and Romanov share a look before he leaves.
As the episode draws to a close, Eve’s new group release a load of balloons into the sky with handwritten help notes attached. I mean, it worked in UP so I can understand the logic. “I miss my Dad.” Alex laments just as the credits roll.
Verdict
Another episode in the books. After last week’s episode, I started to lose hope with the show. However, this week I feel they’ve actually made some progress. Very slowly the characters are getting fleshed out. Mia, Bryan, and Nathalie especially stood out this week. I’m going to say it now – Adrian is the rapist and Bryan is a bad guy.
It was nice to finally see some kind of monster, although I’m starting to believe that we’re really not going to see much else in the way of creatures. This version of the mist seems to be more of a psychological horror than a creature feature, which will be interesting as the season goes on. I just really want to like Kevin and Eve, but so far they’re just very bland one note characters. Hopefully with this week’s set up of a new camp for Eve and being on the road for Kevin it’ll open the door for bigger storylines for the two.
What did you think of Moth-Man? Are you going to tune in next week? Let us know in the comments below.
The first crossover of Marvel’s ResurreXion of the X-Men is upon us. Writers Cullen Bunn and Marc Guggenheim (X-Men: Blue & Gold) are teaming up to deliver “Mojo Worldwide.”
In an interview with ComicBook.com, the two creators spilled the beans on what to expect. A classic story, with classic characters, for diehard X-Men fans.
Cullen Bunn had this to say:
“Mojo deals in meta-thinking the way an expert gambler deals in cards, and we lean into it in a big way. You’re going to be revisiting some classic X-Men stories, but you’ll be seeing them through Mojo’s eyes. You’ll see the Blue and Gold teams working together (and breaking up into interesting sub-groups) but Mojo is turning his eye for entertainment to the groupings as well. Every move Mojo makes has ‘meta’ written all over it, and he is inviting the citizens of the Marvel Universe to share his vision. As the story goes on, he escalates the stakes ever step of the way. More meta, more dangerous.”
In a modern society where everyone is constantly staring into the black void that is their cellphone, Mojo couldn’t come back at a better time. If he’s going to be invading NY, he should be able to easily find a way to also secure a new planet-wide audience through technology.
Everything about Mojo’s classic X-Men stories is oozing meta. Bunn and Guggenheim have a beautiful opportunity to tell a classic X-Men tale while also poking fun at today’s society.
Also coming back for this story is Longshot, whom fans know from previous X-Books. He was an experiment of Mojo’s whose apparently still leading a resistance against the ratings obsessed overlord.
There will undoubtedly be negative backlash by certain fan communities given that Marvel promises no events for 18 months following Secret Empire. However, this is going to be a contained, two-book, X-Men crossover. It’s not going to be a line wide event.
“Mojo Worldwide” seems to be an epic X-Men classic with the potential to be a fun commentary on top of that. Even if you’re not sold by on Legacy by the fall, you can likely enjoy X-Men comics still.
Are you looking forward to the return of Mojo & Longshot? Have you been reading Gold or Blue? Let us know in the comments below!
DC Entertainment and Archie Comics are proud to present the adventure of a lifetime with HARLEY & IVY MEET BETTY & VERONICA. Their hijinks are brought to you by the real-life team-up of Paul Dini (HARLEY QUINN) and Marc Andreyko (WONDER WOMAN ’77), with art by Laura Braga (DC BOMBSHELLS). It all starts this October as these teams of best gal pals cross paths between Gotham and Riverdale!
Paul Dini stated:
It’s the sort of offer you scream out ‘YES!’ to before your eyes reach the middle of the email. I’ve always wanted the chance to play in Riverdale, and to help Harley and Ivy invade it is a dream come true. Marc’s a great talent and a good friend. Writing this series with him has been like sitting on the lawn during summer vacation and reading a big pile of DC and Archie comics. Except we have to stay indoors and type a lot.
Laura Braga added:
It’s going to be a blast to bring these amazing ladies together in this once-in-a-lifetime crossover. Each character is different and special. While Harley is one of my favorite characters ever, Betty and Veronica are giving her a run for her money! I love all these ladies, and this book is going to be non-stop fun.
Marc Andreyko chimed in:
When I got the call for this, I was in disbelief! Getting to co-write with Paul on a series bringing four of the most iconic ladies in comics together under one roof for the first time? This must be what winning the lottery feels like! I cannot wait for readers to see what mischief Paul, Laura and I have dreamed up!
HARLEY & IVY MEET BETTY & VERONICA starts with a plan for free college tuition for all Riverdale residents. The town just needs to build a new campus by draining the wetlands that lie between Riverdale and Gotham City.
The only snag? A certain botany-obsessed super-villain.
When Poison Ivy enlists her bestie Harley to kidnap both Veronica Lodge, daughter of Riverdale’s most important citizen, and her friend Betty, she’s counting on some assistance—and mayhem. Are these two teams of BFF’s headed for disaster?
Archie Comics Publisher/CEO Jon Goldwater said:
Betty and Veronica are the most iconic friends in comic book history, and now, thanks in no small part to the success of the Riverdale TV show, in pop culture. It made tons of sense to have them crossover with DC’s own female powerhouses, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. What you’ll get is a fun story that honors the history of both pairs and adds to it – which is what all great crossovers do. We’re excited by this partnership and we can’t wait for the fans to see what Paul, Marc and Laura cook up.
DC Entertainment Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras added:
Two of comics’ coolest villains paired with two of comics’ hottest icons are what cross-publisher team-ups were made for.
What do you guys think? Pretty much every Archie crossover I have read has been at least fun, clever, and a testament to the versatility of the property. Let us know by commenting and discussing below.
HARLEY AND IVY MEET BETTY AND VERONICA #1 is on sale October 4, 2017. Cover by Amanda Conner (shown above) and variant cover will be by Adam Hughes.
After rumors began swirling that Samuel L. Jackson would be reprising his Nick Fury role in Captain Marvel, Deadline has confirmed the speculative talk as true.
No details regarding Jackson’s role in Captain Marvel were released by the news outlet, but it looks like the Marvel cinematic universe’s shared storyline will be boasted in Carol Danvers’ solo film.
Brie Larson will be playing Captain Marvel, with directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck helming the flick.
Captain Marvel will hit theaters on March 8, 2019.
Gerard Butler has finally, officially, found his place in Hollywood, and it’s starring in ludicrous, half-witted, bargain-basement CGI masterpieces with little regard for intelligence or logic. Case in point: Geostorm.
This new Butler action flick is part destruction porn, part (Insert Location) Has Fallen entry, part Armageddon, all kickass. Check this thing out:
When the network of satellites designed to control the global climate start to attack Earth, it’s a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone.
This movie looks amazing on an entirely different level. It’s the sort of film that bridges the gap between big-budget blockbusters and SyFy original movies. And everyone is obviously having a blast here. Butler tried his hand at serious work for some time and he just wasn’t working in it. Here, however, playing the straight man to an entire film of absurdity is definitely his jam.
Geostorm is brought to us by mega destruction-porn producer Dean Devlin, who brought us Independence Day (the good one and the bad one), Godzilla (just the bad one) and a whole slew of big monsters big destruction movies. Joining Butler is Andy Garcia, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris (WHAT?!), Jim Sturgiss, and a handful of other actors you will recognize and not be able to name. It opens October 20, and will probably be available for purchase in time for Christmas.
The best films of 2017 so far… a list episode, ugh! But the reason you listen to us is that we take the road less traveled and keep you entertained. Enjoy an episode where it’s a good thing we record in two separate locations. EJ is going to cut someone over Baby Driver!
Strap yourself in buckaroos! Episode 129 of the MOVIE SHOW by Monkeys Fighting Robots is here.
Episode Breakdown:
EJ’s List
Surprise: Wonder Woman
Power Rangers
Raw
Must-See In Theaters: The Beguiled
Get Out
Logan
Wild Card: The Girl with All the Gifts
Okja
It Comes At Night
Matt’s list:
Surprise Split
Get Out
Must-See in theater Kong: Skull Island
Wonder Woman
Logan
Wild Card T2 Trainspotting
Baby Driver
Thank you for listening!
Do you want to be our SUPER-FAN of the week? All you have to do is comment on this podcast to be eligible.
Do you have a question that you would like answered during the show? Email your questions to matt@popaxiom.com.
About the Monkeys Fighting Robots Podcast:
A Gen Xer and a Millennial debate the latest topics in pop culture. One guy is a filmmaker and the other is a journalist, but both are nerds. We make your slowest days at work better. Hosts, Matthew Sardo and EJ Moreno.
Never heard of Matt Sardo? For starters, he made the Kessel Run in less than 11 parsecs. Prior to that, he gave Doc Brown the idea for the flux capacitor and led the Resistance to victory over SkyNet – all while sipping a finely crafted IPA. As a radio host, he’s interviewed celebrities, athletes and everyone in between. He’s covered everything from the Super Bowl to Comic-Con.
Who’s EJ Moreno? Is he a trained physician? No. Is he a former Miss Universe contestant? Possibly. But what we know for sure is he’s a writer, filmmaker, and pop culture enthusiast. Since film school, EJ has written & directed several short films. He’s used his passion of filmmaking to become a movie critic for MonkeysFightingRobots.com.
Robert Downey Jr. confirms he’ll step down as Iron Man, according to reports. However, this won’t happen until after Infinity War. For now, he’s promoting his next film, Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In an interview, the Iron Man actor reveals he has an idea of when he’ll leave the role. While he won’t go into specifics, he does have a good rationale for choosing to step down.
“I just keep thinking it’s about when your 16-year-old says, ‘Well I have a license now I can drive,’ and you want to put a tracker in their car and you want to be able to deactivate it,” he says.
“For those who are familiar with him and love Spider-Man, he really does kind of rise to the occasion,” Downey says. “Through a series of mishaps and trials he does wind up doing some extraordinary stuff.”
Downey states he wants to leave Tony Stark on a high note. Just as important, he wants the MCU to be in good hands when he’s gone.
“It’s like with a team if you’re going to hang up your jersey, you want to make sure the team is in good shape and they can still compete at a high level,” he says. “Because ultimately that’s what made the whole thing worth doing anyways.”
Downey explains he “genuinely had a blast” while making the movie. The actor praises Tom Holland’s performance, and he cites Spider-Man as a character whom he admires.
“I just love Spider-Man, so to me being able to participate in reintroducing Spider-Man to a new generation or giving kind of a really back to,” he says. “That’s why it’s called homecoming.”
What Iron Man’s future will be is not yet known. After Downey leaves, Marvel has the options of retiring or recasting the role.
Since Warner Bros. announced back in February that Matt Reeves would be the director stepping in to replace Ben Affleck in helming DC’s still untitled Batman movie, fans have been craving any bit of news about the direction in which he plans to take the Caped Crusader. However, as Reeves was still finishing up War for the Planet of the Apes, which opens in theaters next week, news has been pretty dry. Luckily, now that the director is doing publicity for that film, we’ve at long last been getting some information about the Dark Knight’s upcoming feature.
The latest details come via an interview that Reeves did with Fandango, in which the director confirms that he not only has an idea for one Batman film, but an entire trilogy!
When asked about whether or not he viewed Affleck’s upcoming solo Batman movie as the start of a new trilogy, Matt Reeves replied:
“I have ideas about an arc, but really, the important thing is just to start… you have to start with one. You know, you have to start with a story that begins something. And I would be lying if I could tell you that the arcs of Apes was already planned out, because it simply wasn’t; it’s one of those things where that character was so potent, and the possibility was embedded from the beginning, but exactly how you’ve got from A to Z is not something that existed.”
While fans will be delighted to hear that he has ideas for an overarching story that could span multiple films, it’s comforting to know that Reeves understands the importance of nailing down a solid first movie before getting too far ahead of himself. Indeed, he goes on to say:
“In fact, when I came in on Dawn, the story that I wanted to tell was different from the story that they had even presented me. And so, there are these broad ideas, I think, that sort of came to mind as Rise was created, of how that story could be told, but they weren’t explicitly laid-out. And when Mark and I began Dawn, we knew what our goals were, but we didn’t know how we were gonna get there, and I would say that that more relates to the way that I see a Batman story, is a kind of ambition for a series of stories, but really the most important thing is gonna be to tell a vital first story.”
With Matt Reeves finally having finished War for the Planet of the Apes, he’s finally free to dive headfirst into Ben Affleck’s solo outing as the Batman, and we can expect to hear story details and which characters are likely to be included over the coming weeks. In fact, with San Diego Comic Con just over two weeks away, we might get more information on the movie sooner rather than later, especially as Warner Bros. and DC are sure to have a huge presence in Hall H.
In the meantime, you can get your Matt Reeves fix when War for the Planet of the Apes opens in theaters on July 14th.
Are you excited about the possibility of a Matt Reeves Batman trilogy? What villains would you like to see him tackle over the course of the three movies? Are there specific stories you’d like to see him adapt over the course of the three movies? Let me know in the comments below!
Preacher Feature is a weekly analysis of the AMC show Preacher based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. In this column, we will give a breakdown of the events from the previous night’s show, including how they relate to the comics, and speculate as to what’s going on and what might be coming up. This is to say that there will be spoilers, both actual and potential. If you have not yet watched the episode in question or are watching the show without reading the comics and don’t want to have any foreknowledge of what might happen to Jesse and company, then you would do well to stop reading this now.
Afterschool Special
The episode starts with the real story of Eugene’s transformation into Arseface. If you’re like me, you probably had a feeling that the story Jesse was told (that Eugene took a shotgun to Tracy Loach after she spurned his affections) was not entirely true. Instead, in the darkly funny style that Preacher is known for, we find out that Tracy, distraught over her boyfriend cheating on her, tries to kill herself. Eugene thinks he has convinced her to keep living, but when he tries to kiss her, she decides to go throw with it after all, though as we’ve seen she was less than 100% successful. After she blows out most of her frontal lobe, her mom comes home and Eugene, panicking, tries to shoot himself with the other barrel of the shotgun. When it misfires, he does an eye-check on the barrel (not recommended, from what I understand) and Arseface is born.
A face even a mother would have a hard time loving
14 Best Songs No One’s Ever Heard Of
I’m sure I’m not the only one excited to hear the return of the opening theme by Dave Porter. The trio are back on the road, though the tone is a bit more somber (A Walk to the Peak < Come On Eileen). When they get to New Orleans, we finally find out what’s going on with that dog/man from the trailer. Tulip is once again pursued, this time by standard issue black SUVs with tinted windows, so she decides to split and Cassidy walks her to his mate Denis’s place, where they’ll be staying.
Denis seems less than happy to see him, but like Cassidy and Tulip, I don’t speak French, so maybe his greeting was warmer than it sounded. By the way, Denis is watching The Three Stooges, one of the few shows to utilize violence in as hilarious a manner as Preacher.
Emotions Aplenty
This episode is by far the most emotional of the series so far. Tulip is stressed out, with things between her and Jesse being tense (as things are wont to be when a wedding is proposed, nearly enacted, and then cancelled all in a couple of hours) and now being on the home turf of Victor, the mysterious man from her past that is hunting her down. Cassidy is tired of being treated like an “idiot Irish sidekick”. Jesse is getting worn down by the lack of success so far in the search for God.
After a classic “neon signs to denote the various bars he’s visited” montage, Jesse is told by a friendly bartender (they have all the answers) to talk to Lara, the singer at Le Chamonix. When she tries to evade Jesse she is abducted by a vanful of agents of The Grail, only to be then saved by Jesse. “What’s The Grail?” you may ask, assuming you’ve not read the comics. Well, I think the singer put it best herself when she calls it “a super-secret crypto-religious fascist organization with designs on total world domination”.
After getting Lara safely in a taxi to the airport, he sees a poster telling him to Come See Angelville and the normally unflappable Jesse is very much flapped (more on this in the Easter Eggs section below).
An awkward cell phone non-conversation between Tulip and Jesse follows, after which Tulip goes to “get smokes”. What Big Tobacco won’t tell you is that buying cigarettes from a vending machine is one of the leading causes of gangs of menacing thugs cornering you in a laundromat. Those things can be deadly.
All Hell Breaks Loose
After a fault in the security system in Hell causes all the cells in Eugene’s block to open, we see that among his neighbors is a mousy little dark haired man with a mustache (If you’re not a student of history, relax, I don’t think it’s the beloved star of Modern Times.
Jesse, still unclear about why A Walk to the Peak holds such interest for God is enlightened by a friendly Jazzbo “Now you’re diggin’ it, Daddy-O. End of the world.” Of course “the end of the world” takes on multiple meanings for Jesse. It could be quite literal, given that God is missing, but “Until the End of the World” is also the phrase him and Tulip have used to signify that they will always be there for each other.
We also see that what we thought were a friendly bartender (Malcolm Barrett) and a singer in need of a rescue (Julie Ann Emery) are actually agents of The Grail gathering intel on Jesse. Furthermore, some will recognize them as Featherstone and Hoover, two of the funniest characters from the comics. Their report on Jesse ends up on the desk of the one-eyed Herr Starr, arguably the main antagonist from the comics.
Easter Eggs/Connections to the Comics
The “You Are Now Leaving Texas” road sign with the graffitied “Your Loss, Dipshit” is straight out of issue #7 of the comics.
The eagle-eyed of you may remember The Skull and Lone Star logo in the poster is the same as the tattoo between Jesse’s shoulder blades from the pilot and from the wrist of the man who shoots Jesse’s father in a flashback. Fans of the comics will also recognize it as the symbol of Angelville, the home of Jesse’s sadistic “family”, the L’Angells.
Questions and Theories
What causes the systems issues in Hell? My guess would be the fact that Eugene isn’t actually dead, but was ordered to “Go to Hell” by Jesse/Genesis and not through the more traditional route of committing sins and then dying without absolution.
We all saw what short work The Saint of Killers made of the bar in Ratwater back in the 1800s. Will anything be left of The Big Easy after he gets there?
So, what easter eggs did I miss? There were plenty of posters in the backgrounds of bars, and I’m sure at least one of them had a reference that went over my head. Let me know in the comments.
Ireland’s contribution to Small Press Day 2017, set to take place at the Fumbally Exchange community hub, is worthy of some praise. Championed by some of the stalwarts Irish indie scene, it hosts an impressive line-up of 22 creators showcasing their work. This alone would make it a must for comic fans, but the lads have gone not just a step further, but a leap. This all-star squad of Irish creators will be taking part in panels throughout the day with a focus on their approach to comics and how newcomers can get into small press publishing themselves. This is a comic event as it should be, one determined to lay the groundwork for future creators to grow from. These talks and workshops should prove just as informative to fans as they do for aspiring writers and artists. It also helps that there’s set to be a whiskey tasting to accompany all the fine comic talk. It is thirsty work after all.
