Time To Dance, Josie And The Pussycats Are Coming Back!

Get out your guitar and start making some leopard-themed headbands, the Pussycats are making a comeback! Not only will they have a special one-off issue dedicated to them in Afterlife With Archie and roles in the dubious Riverdale adaptation, but Archie Comics just announced a reboot of the series!

Penned by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio, the series will reportedly feature Josie reuniting the band so they can get their big break. Classic nemesis Alexandra Cabot will be lurking nearby, trying to stop them. Alexandra is the daughter of the Pussycats’ manager, and time will tell if her brother, Jason, will make an appearance.

I’m pretty excited for the series to arrive in September. The previous reboots have been successful and I’m interested in seeing how Bennett and DeOrdio can revamp Josie, Melody, and Valerie. Judging from the announcement, the gang isn’t quite famous, just fairly well-known. I hope that the series will take a compelling look at what it means to be famous and dealing with fame in the Internet age.

If it goes well, then I predict a movie will be made about the characters. Unfortunately, it will be completely different than the source material, feature an overabundance of stock footage from the Internet, and end up getting yanked out of theaters after two weeks.

Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.

Book Review: At the Water's Edge by Harper Bliss

Trigger warning for depression and suicide

While At The Water’s Edge is one of the most well known works of lesbian romance & erotica writer Harper Bliss, it’s perhaps one of those that stand out the most in her bibliography (at least in my opinion). For starters it is, by the author’s own admission, one of her tamer books, though be warned that there’s no fade to black when sex starts and Harper Bliss is very good at making you blush furiously and give furtive glance behind your shoulder to make sure nobody’s reading over it. It’s also a very personal work of fiction, for her and for those who’ve shared her experience with depression. 

Ella Goodman returns to her birth town of Oregon a deeply wounded woman— years after fleeing it, and not long after a break-up that saw her land in the hospital in the wake of a failed attempt at ending her own life. Now she’s back in the town that saw her grow up, and she has two things on her mind : healing the wounds of her soul and coming to terms with her dysfunctional, broken and scattered family. Staying alone at her family’s cabin in the nearby resort, she meets and finds friendship in Kay Brody, the owner. Kay is a confident, steady and quite perceptive woman who soon proves adept at tearing the armor around Ella’s heart, forcing her to see herself and her wounds.

At The Water’s Edge was quite possibly one of the more difficult read I’ve come across lately. Not because of how it was written, but because of the difficult subjects it touched. There is no doubt in my mind that Harper Bliss drew from her own experience with depression, and Ella’s struggles resonated deeply with my own. I found myself often brought to tears as the book bared my soul as well as Ella’s while on the difficult path of her healing. Perhaps that is why this book stands out to me: it speaks to me in a manner not a lot of stories do.

Harper Bliss writes compelling characters that feel all too real, like people we’ve probably known at some point of our life. Her judgmental mother, bitter and mean after spending an unhappy marriage with her husband who lost himself in shame and guilt after getting caught red handed with a mistress. Her sister, Nina, who fled to the other side of the world without a word, full of anger and resentment. Ella, who went on to Boston to become a biologist, losing herself in work and the ruins of failed relationships, depression slowly chipping away at her energy until she could not bear living another day. It is a story about Ella and the Goodman family, and it’s true Kay may seem lacking a little depth beside them— but we quickly grow fond of the pair as they get closer and sometimes stumble on the rough edges of Ella’s heart. 

Harper Bliss has a very tight way of writing and she doesn’t lose time on secondary plots or characters, which does account for the relative shortness of the story (221 pages). I tried to slow my reading towards the end, wishing for more despite the bruises it awakened, and I do feel the book could have used a few more dozen pages without diluting its strength, particularly with Kay, who I did find to be too perfect to be true. Bliss does a very good job at writing in the first person, present tense; so good in fact that I actually did not notice it before it was brought up to me. The few sex scenes we’re treated with are furiously blush-inducing, and they tread the edge of soft domination.

Despite those few small flaws, At The Water’s Edge remains a solid and thoroughly enjoyable book that I’ll probably enjoy reading again soon, at least to remember that sometimes, it gets better.

Rachel Vigo is a would-be critical geographer from Paris (the one in France, not the one in Texas). She is an avid devourer of books and plays video-games far too much.

Steven Universe Recap - S03E05 - "Hit the Diamond"

In the full intro there’s a line that bugged a number of fans for a while – Pearl’s "If you could only know/What we really are”.

Those words don’t naturally lead into the rest of Pearl’s part of the song, and the animation seems to imply that she almost reveals something – but catches herself in time. Therefore the use of those words in the "In Too Deep” promo suggested a reveal of something the Crystal Gems were hiding this whole time.

Well, if there is any mystery behind those lines, we’ll have to wait for the revelation for a while yet. "Hit the Diamond” doesn't reveal anything earth shattering.

Steven Universe Recap - S03E04 - "Barn Mates"

Throughout the show’s run Steven has faced many threats: monsters, clusters of varying sizes, fingers turned into cats, seagulls.  Now he has to deal with his biggest problem yet: two of his friends, one of who doesn’t particularly care for the other.

Critical Hits and Misses: June 3, 2016

• Images from the Naoki Urasawa Exhibition hosted by the Setagaya Literary Museum in Tokyo last March can now be seen on Spoon and Tamago, or alternatively, though this short Youtube walk through video courtesy of the Internet Museum. (kinoumenthe)

• The Wizards of the Coast have released a free Dungeons & Dragons supplement about Zendikar, one of the planes in Magic: the Gathering. This is the first time Dungeons and Dragons crosses into the worlds of Magic. (Etienne)

• Onyx Path Publishing has released an advance PDF of Ghouls and Revenants for their 20th Anniversary line. The final PDF and hardcopy will be available at a later date. It includes an expanded look at those bound to vampires, as well as new families, merits and flaws! (Megan)

• Tired of constantly getting messages from your college asking for a tiny donation? A hilarious YouTube channel called Above Average Productions recently released a fake trailer for a horror movie about precisely that! Enjoy it and try not start crying over your own student loan debt. (Zach)

• Is Quantum Tunneling Faster than Light? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

• The Rock is considering becoming one of the most consistently disappointing figures in history: a politician!

• According to Elon Musk, the chance we are not living in a computer simulation is 'one in billions'. If we aren't stuck in a Matrix-style world, then the world is about to end. (Adrian)

Star Trekkin'! ANAD Avengers #10 Recap

Oh, All New, All Different Avengers. You have so much going for you. Out of all the Avengers-themed groups running around right now, you have the honor of calling yourselves the main one. You’re Marvel’s flagship team. Your lineup is comprised of seven incredibly popular characters, all of who have super successful solo titles.

So why, oh why, are you still such a mediocre comic?

Is it that face? It might be that face.

Our story opens in SPAAAAAAAACE, where, as a result of the events of the last issue, the Avengers are off to find Nova’s dad. Since Tony Stark is currently missing the ‘Billionare’ part of his famous résumé, they are forced to use a hunk of junk that is decidedly not the fastest in the galaxy by a long shot. The lack of engine means that they are forced to use Thor-power. Literally.

Apparently 'Warp Power' is something Mjolnir has. I'm not even joking.

Anyway, they discover distress signals emanating from a planet (that is described as being approximately the size of Mars, but also happens to look just like Mars), crash land there, and discover other groups of crash survivors who are all under threat from a large mysterious tower, and a giant vortex thingy.

It’s like that Star Trek episode. The one you know you watched but can’t seem to remember the name of, or even which crew it was with.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Jarvis and New Wasp are on a road trip to visit Janet Van Dyne who, as Jarvis points out, has not actually abandoned the title of Wasp. With all the new heroes taking on legacy titles left and right, this was bound to happen eventually. Anyway, they have engine trouble, and meet Janet for approximately two panels, and it’s somehow far more interesting than the Avengers battling a space vortex.

Even in emergencies, Janet always finds time for fashion advice.

Speaking of which, Cap decides that the best way to save people from the thing is to fly into it themselves, probably because he’s been spending too much time on the internet. So, they boldly fly off into the vortex and, on the other side, are captured by… ANNIHILUS!!!
*dramatic music*

He looks kinda like a cross between Galactus and Ambush Bug.

So, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m pretty disappointed by this. Everything just falls flat, from the plot to the characterization to the dialogue. The art meanwhile is downright bad in places, and just plain boring in the rest.

On the brighter side of things, I’m liking the new Wasp so far, even if she has yet to show any personality beyond the usual hyper-excitement. Still, it looks like next month we might be getting a team-up between her and Janet, and so at least we have something to look forward to.

Another positive is that we get hints of the greatness this series could achieve. It’s during little moments, like Nova’s desperation to find his dad, or Thor using Mjolnir to save Ms. Marvel that I see what kind of comic they were trying to write. Sadly, the rest of the issue fails to reach the same heights.

They will never take this away from me

Aranwe Quirke is a totally real, definitely not made up name. No, you may not see the birth certificate.

Person of Interest Recap - S05E08-10 - "Reassortment" + "Sotto Voce" + "The Day the World Went Away"

Okay, as it turns out, last week there were three Person of Interest episodes – which I missed. So in order to be more up to date, I’m covering three episodes – last week’s "Reassortment”, this week’s "Sotto Voce”, and "The Day the World Went Away”.

By the way, the next three episodes will be released one per week. Because why be reasonable and keep to an already announced pattern, when you can suddenly change it so close to the end.

Oh - and get ready for a lot of crying. We're nearing the show's conclusion. Here be feels.

SNL Scraps: "Star Wars" Auditions Bonus Footage

All the way back in November, the sixth episode of SNL’s forty-first season had a prerecorded short about rejected auditions for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Like the other rejected audition shorts before it, it was pretty much an excuse for the cast to show off their vocal talent. However, this one featured J.J. Abrams, Daisy Ridley, and John Boyega making special appearances to promote the movie, as well as guest appearances from Emma Stone, Michael Buble, and Jon Hamm. Recently, NBC posted bonus footage from the video online. It has some alternate lines and a special cameo from a celebrity. 

Like it? Tell me in the comments below!

Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.

House of Lies S05E06 & S05E07 - Mini Review

Marty possesses the king of "You are an idiot" faces, and he puts it to good use in these episodes.
 

As short texts tend to do, this one is going to get right to it.

A white man pretending to be black in order to get into college and make it big on the market for black hair products strikes me as the type of plot that works on House of Lies, but in few other contexts. 

It would be too absurd for many shows, too serious for some, too tricky for others. Here it’s all of those things, but since absurd, serious and tricky are natural parts of the show’s DNA, it’s not too much to handle. The execution may not be perfect, but I think it strikes a good balance between the personal, the political and the “What The Fuck?” 

Avoiding actual blackface is always good (looking at you, Soul Man), as is making it clear what a clueless idiot a character is without painting anyone else as the hero. What better way to highlight white people delusions than to contrast them with characters living their whole lives in a heightened, warped and morally corrupt world, who still understand enough to call the bullshit immediately? It probably won’t teach the average white person a lot about our mistakes, but then the show isn’t about teachable moments. It’s mostly clever entertainment, with societal critique as an added bonus - a kind of heightened reality where people are worse, but the big issues remain the same (and I guess it’s not that heightened this time). 

Speaking of heightened reality… I just loved seeing the ruthless eye of House of Lies turned towards legalization proponents in the next episode. I think the effects of the “war on drugs” in the US may be enough to justify legalization, but no one can convince me this is the main motivation driving all those middle to upper class pot-lovers. They want their weed, and they want to believe they’re fighting the power. And yes, the political framing can sound just as offensive as it does in this episode. Okay, maybe not quite this offensive - but like I said, heightened.

 
Tova Crossler Ernström is a bisexual Swede, feminist, socialist, INFJ, Hufflepuff, HSP and Taurus. She is fond of personality tests, labels and lists.

A Very Civil War -- Ms. Marvel #7 Review

Everyone's favorite teenage Avengers!... and Nova.

While recently overshadowed by a Captain America reveal, one upcoming event that has been a concern at the back of many a comic book reader’s mind has been the impending Civil War II. As such, the banner on the cover of this issue of the latest Ms. Marvel issue, declaring it a Civil War II prequel, was bound to unnerve some people.

You can rest easy now, because not only is Ms. Marvel #7 an excellent comic, it has basically nothing to do with the major crossover event aside from the final page, which has little to do with the actual story.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After the masterpiece that was the last issue, packed to the brim with action and emotion, Wilson wisely chooses to scale back with the opening to this new arc rather than try to top it.

The premise is simple: a science fair, a staple of high school stories since time immemorial. And yes, while we get the cartoonish antics of the two teams constantly trying to top the others’ efforts, naturally ending in disaster, there is a much deeper, real life, issue that is touched upon.

No conceivable way this could go wrong.

As Kamala and Bruno explain, science fairs like these are one of their few opportunities to get scholarships to good colleges, saving them from a lifetime of student debt. It would be easy to take that as just another reason to support Team Jersey, but Mike (a character who I’m liking more with each appearance) takes it to an even deeper level: the people on the other side are facing the same problems too.

It’s a complex issue, and it leaves our heroes questioning why good guys always have to fight other good guys and how no one ever wins in that scenario and oh god this was a Civil War II tie in.

This issue also delivered the long awaited Miles Morales and Kamala Khan crossover, which was hinted at during her appearance in Spider-Man #3. The character is written excellently here, and is given some of the best lines and pop culture references. (I don’t know how saying “I feel a disturbance in the Force” is supposed to be an acceptable excuse for your Spidey-Sense, but I love it.)

The (Smugly) Superior Spider-Man

 For those of you keeping track, Kamala does know Miles’ secret identity, while he doesn’t know hers, which results in some awkwardly adorable interactions, all leading to an amazing moment where Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel (and Nova, who was conveniently in New Jersey at the time) all show up to save the day at the same time, and have a nonverbal moment of understanding between each other.

The last page almost feels like a tagged on post credits scene you’ll find in a Marvel movie. Queen Medusa and the mysterious Inhuman Ulysses are watching a news report covering the science fair explosion, and he feels a premonition while looking at Bruno (please let Bruno be okay, please). Aside from the thematic elements mentioned above, that’s as far as the Civil War II lead up goes in this issue. It's one of the few instances where I'm glad about false advertising on the cover.

Overall, I was immensely pleased with this. The story was fun, but surprisingly deep, the characters (both the usual crowd and the crossover ones) were well written. Shout-out to Josh the Jock, who like many other side characters, is proving to have many more dimensions than we initially thought. The artwork, done by Ms. Marvel’s OG artist, Adrian Aphona, is fantastically stylistic, and a welcome break from the slightly more generic, but still enjoyable, work by Nico Leon in the last few issues.

There are definitely some hints of what’s to come; the issue of scholarships is never resolved, Miles probably figured out Kamala’s identity which marks a change in the status quo, and while the two of them may have settled their differences in this issue, we know they’ll soon be on opposite sides of a much bigger conflict…

But until that comes, let’s just enjoy this peaceful moment where everyone gets along.

Reason #238 to love this comic

Aranwe Quirke is a totally real, definitely not made up name. No, you may not see the birth certificate.