Aka Monday 6th
April - Sunday 12th April 2020
More working from
home, but this week it was Easter week, so we got Good Friday off, but it
didn’t feel like a day off as, because of the lockdown, the days at home just
feel like a Sunday from the ‘80’s, no where is open, about from a couple of
food shops, and nowhere to go to…the only day that doesn’t feel like a Sunday
is the day you do your weekly big food shop…and that’s mainly because it’s a
change from being stuck indoors…
…I also had curly
fries and fish fingers:
…which traditionally
don’t go together, but I’d run out of supplies and all I had left were curly
fries, fish fingers and salad leaves, so what can you do. And while each one is
nice, together…they kinda don’t go together. The Southern Fried-ness of the
curly fries doesn’t exactly sit with fish! In Lockdown the littlest thing can
be become epic or dramatic, and play on you, way beyond what should be or would
normally happen!
…I also did a chunk of comic book reading:
‘Jesusfreak’ (written by Joe Casey, art by Benjamin Marra,
colour by Brad Simpson, design by Sonia Harris and letters by Russ Wooton)
tells the story of Jesus as he comes to terms with his destiny and
responsibilities, battles Romans and a demon, possibly the Devil himself,
before become the Messiah. Described as a “two-fisted tale of historical
heroism” ‘Jesusfreak’ is a fun combination of historic fiction and ‘70’s Shang-Chi,
Master of Kung-Fu comics. Blending what it was like to live in Biblical times
with equal amounts of philosophy and kung-fu fights. What could have been a
one-note joke, a kung-fu Jesus, is a fun and thought-provoking read (such as
what it would be like to be preaching a belief that the authorities did not
approve off). 8/10.
In ‘Moonshine’ #17 (written by Brian Azzarello, art &
colours by Eduardo Risso, letters & design by Jared H. Fletcher, colour
assist by Cristian Rossi and edited by Will Dennis) Jean-Baptiste gets his comeuppance
and Delia shows her cunning and drive, has she takes back Lou. A dark, scary
and sensual story that ends leaving Lou further down the road of magic, monsters and
misery. It’s basically Azzarello &
Risso doing what they do best. 9/10.
Most of ‘The Batman’s Grave’ #6 (written by Warren Ellis, art
by Bryan Hitch, colours by Alex Sinclair, letters by Richard Starkings,
associated editor Andrew Marino and editor Marie Jarvins) is a big fight scene
as Batman and Commissioner Gordon escape Arkham Asylum, with a locked down
murder mystery coda, in which the victim may have solved the mystery! ‘The
Batman’s Grave’ hits all my Batman buttons, there’s action, humour, mystery and
detective work all going on. And it looks beautiful. From the writing, to the
art, to the lettering to the design, it is all on point. 10/10.
‘Captain America: The End’ (written and illustrated by Erik Larsen, colours by Dono
Sanchez-Almara and letters by VC’s Joe Caramagna) tells the last fight of
Captain America. The Red Skull is dead, but his last act resulted in the
release of a virus that changes people, making them crazy and violent, while
changing them physically so that they look like the Red Skull. Cap has been
battling these Red Skulls for years, trying to find a cure. There are echoes of
‘I Am Legend’ in Larsen’s fun tale, but Cap being Cap, there’s also a whole
load of positivity. Who would have thought that the end of the world could be
so life affirming! 7/10.
In ‘Kaijumax Season
Five’ #2 (by Zander Cannon, colour assists by Jason Fischer, design by Dylan
Todd with Zander Cannon and edited by Zack Soto) the main focus is on trial of
Pikadon, letting Cannon play with Pokemon tropes (to great fun effect) we also
get to see Sprinkles the Unidragon making his moves, which might cause future
problems for Sharkmon and Ding Wing, although Sharkmon may be making
counter-moves, or at least have his own plan for Sprinkles. I’ve said it before
and I’ll say it again, Kaijumax is “a near-masterpiece, making the experiences
of monsters in prison so relatable and human” and issue 2 keeps up the high
standard. 10/10.
…and a chunk of TV
watching:
Over the last couple
of weeks, I’ve been watching all four seasons of ‘She-Ra and the Princesses of Power’, a reboot/remake of the ‘80’s show. Masterminded by Noelle Stevenson,
who created the outstanding comic ‘Nimona’. ‘She-Ra…’, in a nutshell, is about Adora,
an orphan on the planet Etheria, who has been raised by the Horde, an army led
by the evil Hordak. Things are looking good for Adora, she’s making Force
Captain in the Horde, but she gets lost in the woods and finds a magical sword,
which turns her into She-Ra. Adora soon realises that the Horde are the bad
guys and she joins the Resistance and becomes best friends with Glimmer and
Bow. And together they rebuild the Princess Alliance, a group of magical Princess,
to oppose and defeat the Horde and Hordak. Which means that Adora is now pitched
against her former best friend, Catra. With the betrayal Catra feels fuelling
her to great heights of villainy.
‘She-Ra…’ is a
really hopeful, positive and inspiring show, with a diverse cast of distinct characters,
encompassing various body shapes, sexualities, and ethnicity, each with a distinct
personality. And you can see why a certain section of fandom hates this reboot,
it’s not about a sexy warrior princess doing sexy warrior things. Like ‘Nimona’
the show starts out with relatively simple storylines, but was it goes on, more
complexity is added. Friends bicker and fight, and things are resolved at the end
of the episode, resentments linger and fuel future stories, sacrifices are made,
and life lessons learnt. But the core concept of friendship is always at the heart
of the show, that we are stronger together and true friendships last no matter
what. And there’s plenty of humour. 8/10.
‘Safe’, created by Harlen Coben, is about Tom Delaney’s search for his daughter, who has gone missing after
she went to a house party, along with her boyfriend. The Delaney’s live in a
gated community (in England) and has Tom searches for his daughter he uncovers
a terrible secret (and some minor secrets) that will change the lives of many
in the community. ‘Safe’ is an eight episode mini-series and I don’t want to
say too much about the storyline, as it’s best to watch it unfold without
spoilers. The show is well written, even when using some of the genres well-worn
tropes, it brings a new spin or look at them. Plus, it has a killer cast (Michael
C. Hall, Marc Warren, Hannah Arterton as Emma Castle, Amanda Abbington, Audrey
Fleurot and Nigel Lindsay to name a few) who are a joy to watch. 8/10.
I liked ‘Safe’ so
much that I’ve started watching ‘The Stranger’, also by Harlen Coben. I’ve only
watched the first episode and twenty minutes of episode two and so far I’m
liking it, a very intriguing story idea – that a stranger tells you about a
secret that a loved one has, a secret that changes how you see them – that generates
plenty of mystery and debate (like…how much do we really know about the people
closest to us, should them doing something that “society” finds morally
objectionable change our view of them, you should we believe and who should we trust?).
…and I took in a
couple of Long Walks, these are from Good Friday:
…which knackered my
little toe a bit:
…and these are from Saturday
(with my toe properly bandaged):
…and I’ve started
growing a handlebar moustache (mostly out of Lockdown boredom):
…and I did this
week’s G2 Crosswords:
…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off with a bit of a
stumble as we had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 24). I’m
putting it down to not getting a good night’s sleep, leaving the little grey
cells a bit beleaguered and ‘switched off’. And we missed a couple of easy
ones, but we did learn that a male swan is called a cob and a female swan is
called a pen, that the ‘trefoil’ is a ‘plant with clover-like leaves’, and that
‘aioli’ is a ‘garlicky mayonnaise’…
…but things kick up a gear with Tuesday’s crossword as the
little grey cells are back on duty, cutting through the clues like a master
lumberjack. We only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 23). But
it means that we learnt that a ‘Dryad’ is a ‘wood nymph’ and that ‘otalgia’ is
‘earache’…
…and things continued to be kicked up with Wednesday’s
crossword as we only had to cheat on none of the 25 clues! The master
lumberjack little grey cells continue to hack through the clues, making log
cabins everywhere…
…things take a bit of a tumble with Thursday’s crossword as
we had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). The little grey
cells axe must be a little blunted! Annoyed that we forgot that ‘Aleppo’ is a
the ‘largest city in Syria before the massive damage of the civil war’, but we
did learn that ‘Kirsch’ is a ‘cherry brandy’ and that ‘Ibsen’ is the ‘author of
The Master Builder, d. 1906’…
…and the axe has been whetted and we only had to cheat on
one twenty-second of the clues (one out of 22) for Friday’s crossword. And we
nearly got the answer as well, the clue was ‘Protestant followers of a German
theologian, d.1546’ and we went for ‘Lutherian’ instead of ‘Lutherans’, ah
well…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a high note, as
the little grey cells, in their lumberjack finery, flannel shirts and
suspenders, hacked through all the clues without the need to cheat on any of
the 26 clues. It’s been a very good crossword week, but will it continue next
week???
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