Ear-wax museum

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

Amid the oodles of throwaway cover variants that pose an existential threat to the industry they almost killed in the '90s (some publishers have clearly learnt nothing), Paul Chadwick's beautiful, thoughtful painting deserves to be celebrated.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Kawa" by Doeun & Jiana from the group Young Posse (Korea). Note: I should point out there are flashing lights in the clip, in case you have photosensitive epilepsy or another condition that makes these a potential danger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4SA0X2kvg

Commended >>> "Killing Time" by DMA's (Australia), "Home Depot" by Medium Build (US), "Cold Hearted" by Agatha Is Dead! feat. Schramm (Germany), "Cinema" by Dynamite Shakers (France), "Fineapple" by Pineapple Express (India). Was surprised to discover that P/E track was produced by the brother of a former colleague. Small world!

RANDOM RPG REMINISCENCE

On the subject of bros...the one time JH's older brother C. tried "D&D" to see what the fuss was about, I wasn't there. I looked over his abandoned character sheet afterwards. It was a cleric named Brother Brian. From what the others told me, he'd actually played BB like a holy man rather than merely a fighter who could cast healing spells. For a little hack'n'slash munchkin like I was then, it was food for thought. I wonder why - to my knowledge - he never engaged with the game again.

MISC.

* Finished "The Blade Itself". Took long enough to assemble the party ;-P

* Have moved on from the Anina deck to a pile based around Baron Zemo.

* Desperate to watch "M/O/T/U" on Prime today, but will I get sidetracked?

Sharp, shocking shorts

Not bad. I thought they could have made even more of the mad-scientist theme that was running through a few of the strips. But, as I said, not bad. And a "2000AD" standalone special will always be a blast from the past for me. It was so exciting when they'd unexpectedly turn up on the stands back in the day. Now, we know about every single product months in advance. The internet has sucked a lot of the mystery from the world. Speaking of mystery, stop reading now if you don't want to be spoilered on the "Strange New Worlds" Season 4 opener ... Not fussed? OK, well, S4 got off to a Spock-rockin' start with a plot involving both Martians and dinosaurs! The writing was tight, the CGI was on point and, while the ending was a bit downbeat, there were multiple memorable scenes - I'm still thinking about the connotations of the ep this morning.

Big Audible dynamite

Am 12 hours into this audiobook on my daily walks (10 to go). It's gritty AF heroic fantasy. Not quite up to Gemmell standard, but what is? Certainly good enough for me to continue with the rest of the trilogy.

Mechanical pencil

A fan of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki since 1989's "Leningrad Cowboys Go America", I was keen to see this 2023 rom-com...yet somehow waited three years. Blame the Pandemic for scaring me out of cinemas and making me reliant on what turns up on my various free/paid streaming services. "Fallen Leaves" is like a fairytale told with harsh realism. While the viewer hopes the leads will be granted a happyish ending, the odds in their community of damaged people, precarious low-paying jobs and rampant alcoholism are against them. What we in Oz sometimes dub "battlers", Ansa and Holappa own precious little but have so much to give if the Fates would just be kind. You'll root for them, too.

Received this HC GN as a pressie. I don't mind Harley, however I hate The Joker, who I find over-exposed and boring. Considering that, the fact it's entirely written and drawn by one person - Stjepan Sejic - and the known arc, I was shocked by how fine I was going along for the psycho ride. Quality work.

Built a Brawl deck based around this chick. The random critter is taken from the total "Arena" card pool of hundreds (thousands?). There are a couple of other spells in the deck that also have a similar effect. With the right combination, you can summon an instant army of randos! Of varying usefulness :-)

"When you move, the monsters move"

Managed 21 on "U/C".

MANGA OF THE WEEK

Heart Strings XX

After 20 instalments, it's becoming quite difficult to find images of striking and/or noteworthy babes with bows that I haven't posted afore.

1. Fashion shot of Japanese model Chiharu Okunugi. (I was actually searching for kyudo archeresses.)

2. "The Archer" (1910) statue by Ferdinand Lepcke in a park in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

3. Nightingale Armour set from the videogame "Skyrim", as recreated by a talented American lass known as Armored Heart Cosplay. 

4. Saucy thumbnail - or should I say bum-nail? - from the "Archery Clash" game app.

5. Libuse Safrankova in 1973 Czech-East German movie "Three Wishes For Cinderella". She was 20 at the time.

6. Australian "Playboy" magazine from July 1982.

7. "Seldarine Dedicate" by artist Howard Lyon for the "D&D 4E - Divine Power" manual. Such a great illo!

LHS 1140 b

Will be nigh on impossible for tomorrow's World Cup final to top this morning's third-place playoff. What a show-stealer! The 10(!!!) goals, the near misses and saves, the records set, the crowd reactions, the slick pitch, the DRAMA between two eternal rivals.

Smashed this bookazine in short order. From items such as Eldrad's Hand and the Moleculon Nanoscaler, the ace hacks springboard into examinations of wider aspects of "Who" like the use of quarries and surprisingly many tales involving miniaturisation. These writeups feel fresh while, to my eyes, correctly privileging the classic era.

(Very) Aussie zombie fillum from 2024. Smart, sensitive, stylish, sinister, stark, savage, something special!