At 288 pages, Kent State definitely qualifies as a graphic novel. But it’s more than that. Derf Backderf has crafted an immersive experience on paper, released at a time when American society is, once again, politically polarized and awash in falsehoods, some of them emanating from the highest office in the land.
Category Archives: Comics
Bureau’s Breakroom’s Television Table – Week beginning 2020 November 15
The first thing in this list that jumped out at me was the fact that I can’t see a listing anywhere for the third episode of this season’s Blacklist, and this week’s is labeled as “Conclusion,” but a bit of web research is inconclusive but seems to indicate they are referring to the fact that it’s season seven’s conclusion, pushed to this season. Going in reverse order this week, we also get Marvel’s 616, a series that examine the characters in-universe. The two best genre shows currently on television, possibly the two best shows on television at all, also appear. The Mandalorian doesn’t give us a description, and some of the crew of Discovery are going to meet with Book. Reinforcements show up to deal with the pandemic on The Good Doctor. In His Dark Materials, Lyra crosses into the show’s version of our real world.
[All synopses (and titles) from Trakt.tv below the cut, except when there really aren’t any. (If a show’s synopsis is a spoiler to you, do not click Continue reading →)]
Graphic Novel Review: Beetle & the Hollowbones
“I know you’re busy haunting the mall, but we’re out of stuff to do.”
Aimed more at the MG audience but closing in on YA, this autumn-appropriate graphic novel tells the tale of a young Goblin witch, her undead, increasingly distant best friend, and the Blob Ghost that haunts the mall in a suburb of some Halloween-themed universe.
DC Universe content moves to HBO Max…. And other Decidedly Concerning news…
In a move that will surprise no one, DC Universe’s content will migrate to HBO Max. DC Comics, of course, has experienced a serious shake-up in the last week, and the future of the company, once synonymous with comic books, remains in flux.
A quick checklist of known changes appears below:
Graphic Novel Review: Diana: Princess of the Amazons
DC, under their DC Zoom label, has some younger-reader graphic novels planned for 2020, and seem particularly interested in cultivating the growing market of female readers. Unsurprisingly, then, they started the year by releasing a Wonder Tween tale.
What would it be like to be the only little girl on the Paradise Islands?
Crisis on Infinite TV Shows: Our Crisis Reviews Begin.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths comes to DC-TV starting tonight, with Supergirl. We’ll have reviews—and we have an overview.
Lex Pendragon: On the CW, five shows are combining their audiences into one super crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Based (at least loosely) on the DC comics event Crisis on Infinite Earths, the comics story that took the various Earths and different continuities and eventually combined the multiverse down to a single continuity. The Multiverse option was appealing to the showrunners, who embraced it to allow a crossover between Supergirl on CBS and The Flash on the CW. The shows loved to exploit this, giving us Flash hopping between universes regularly, using it for further crossovers, and eventually even referencing past shows such as the 90s Flash and Constantine (from NBC), who eventually joined Legends of Tomorrow.
Graphic Novel Review: Pumpkinheads
“…friends don’t let friends lead small lives.”
Somewhere in the American heartland stands the Pumpkin Patch or, more specifically, DeKnock’s World Famous Pumpkin Patch & Autumn Jamboree, a fall tradition consisting of a corn maze, haunted house, mini-train, petting zoo, and other attractions, and a lot of home-made snack food. And every year, rural high schoolers Josiah and Deja work the Succotash Hut, while Josiah moons over the hot girl who works at the Fudge Shoppe. They’re seniors now, and on their final night, Deja convinces Josie to finally talk to the Fudge Girl, while they take the chance to enjoy the Patch’s homespun attractions for once. In this YA graphic novel by Rainbow Rowell (author of YA novels and Marvel’s Runaways) and Faith Erin Hicks (Eisner-winning graphic novelist), that decision will lead them into a series of goofball misadventures and, of course, a life-changing realization.
Disney announces a full slate of Marvel TV Shows:
In addition to the previously-mentioned Vision/Scarlet Witch series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and Loki shows for 2020 and 2021 (depending), Disney also plans shows for Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and the She-Hulk! In addition to these shows, which will connect with the MCU, expect new animated series, like What If…
Further information may be found here, or by Googling, “Marvel fanboys and fangirls lose their…”
Who should play the still-uncast roles? And what other Marvel character should get a series?
The Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel made several announcements at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend regarding the next phase of things. Obviously, Spider-man will continue to swing around the MCU, but we’re also getting the Black Widow movie (May 1, 2020), an unidentified movie later in fall, The Eternals (November 2020) Shang-chi (Feb. 12, 2021), with the actual ringed Mandarin opposing Canadian actor Simu Liu as the Master of Kung-Fu (February 2021), the next Doctor Strange film (May 2021), a new Thor film (November 2021) that will reportedly feature Natalie Portman rejoining Chris Helmsworth to become the female Thor, and the previously announced Scarlet Witch/Vision, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Loki series all appearing in 2021.
They’ve also confirmed we’ll see a new Blade, sequels to Captain Marvel, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and an MCU Fantastic Four. They just don’t have dates yet for these blockbusters.
What do you want to see from the next phase?
Sandman to appear on Netflix
One of the greatest graphic series of all time, Neil Gaiman’s game-changing Sandman, finally, reportedly will receive a live adaptation. It will appear, curiously, on Netflix, and not DC’s own streaming service, and they project it will be the most expensive show DC Entertainment has ever produced.
So will it finally happen? Will it work? And who would make your dream cast?