I have to admire Legends of Tomorrow for completely embracing the crazy. This week, the Legends face off against the Legion of Doom in 1967 over the spear that pierced Jesus’s side– in order to save the career of George Lucas!
Seriously. That was the plot.
A rather grim scene involving the still-living Rip Hunter ends the ep on a different tone.
Meanwhile, on Flash and Arrow….
…or she returns, at least, with a Kevin Smith-directed episode, heavy on the Silver Age Sci-Fi.
Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon (so far) and the second man to walk in space, died January 16 at the age of 82.
Peter Blatty, a writer who was best-known for his comedy work until he penned The Exorcist, died on Thursday, January 12 at the age of 89.
R.I.P.
UPDATE: We have also lost Dick Gautier. The actor, nominated for a Tony as the original “Conrad Birdie” in Bye Bye Birdie, is best known to TV viewers as “Hymie the Robot” from Get Smart. He was 85.
We missed reviewing the genre-twisting thriller when it came out, so here’s a Weekend Review of this beguiling and suspenseful 2016 film.
Two events made the first of September a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant.
The part about saving Grant’s life was speculative. Even without Jesse’s intervention, the pistol might have misfired or the bullet missed its mark. Jesse felt uneasy about taking credit for an act of purely theoretical heroism. But the loss of the Oakleys, that was a real tragedy. He had loved those Oakleys. The way they improved his vision on sunny days. The way they made him look (9).
The final great SF novel of 2016, Robert Charles Wilson’s Last Year, gives us time travel, the Gilded Age, old-west San Francisco, and timely reflections on politics, social change, America, and the fact that technological progress has “not abolished vindictiveness or petty jealousy”(323).
We live in interesting times, but as 2016 finally comes to its conclusion, I’m hoping for a happier future. Enjoy whatever you might be doing this evening and, before I head out, I have gathered, with the Bureau’s help, a few Newspace stories for ya:
NASA’s Jeff Williams has posted this amazing video of earth from space. It seems like a good way to end the year, so take a good, long look:
And, below:
Richard Adams, best-known as the author of Watership Down, died at the age of 96 on Christmas Eve, 2016. He joins Carrie Fisher and a host of other beloved and celebrated individuals to leave before the end of this problematic year.
Carrie Fisher, best-known for playing Princess Leia, suffered a massive heart attack on a flight from London to LA. She is in hospital in critical condition.
She has most recently been touring in support of her memoir, The Princess Diarist.
UPDATE: Her brother, Todd Fisher, says she is in intensive care. An earlier report claimed her condition was “stable,” but this does not appear to be the case as of December 24.
If I had to describe Adrian Tomine to someone who didn’t know his work, I would call him – I can’t possibly conjure any higher praise – the Alice Munro of comics.
–Rachel Cooke, The Guardian
Adrian Tomine released this collection a little over a year ago. A New York Times bestseller, its six stories reveal key moments and revelations in the lives of ordinary people.