Reveal-ing Comics, New Worlds, and Everything Else
Newsletter 09 May
I fully intended to do an April newsletter in addition to my Hello God, Make Me A Superhero piece. But, at the end of April we were in Milwaukee attending the Midwest Gaming Classic, and I just ran out of April. It was my first large convention since the pandemic started. C2E2 2019 feels a million years ago. Despite being nervous about COVID, still—and little general mask usage in evidence during the show—I had a great time. Got some good shopping done, and had a blast playing the pinball machines. I love old arcade games, too, but pinball feels like something I can’t really replicate at home at all. I’m not particularly good at pinball, but I do enjoy it.
One thing this trip hit home about, though, is I need to get back in shape. I’ve given myself something of a free pass when it came to fitness because I was dealing with… well, the world. And I’ve actually lost a little weight. But man I could feel my lack of activity on this trip. Too exhausted too easily. Right now my “core” feels like a recently de-canned chunk of cranberry sauce. Just jiggling there.
The good lighting is helping to hide how utterly exhausted I was.
Revealer Revealed!
I mentioned last newsletter that my friend Luke’s movie, Revealer, was having its US Premiere. I’m excited to say the reviews have been great after a couple more festival showings, and Shudder picked up the movie to start streaming June 23. The even cooler news (for me) is that there will be a tie-in comic book one-shot… and I’m writing a story in it! Once the comic comes out I’ll write more about it. But it’ll be on sale August 31. Be sure to hit up your local comic shop for it! I’ve included the official solicitation info for easy reference. And, no, my name isn’t in the solicitations. Comics writers (and friends) Michael Moreci and Tim Seeley wrote the movie, and they’re doing two of the stories in the one-shot. So, you know, they’re the headliners comic audiences actually care about.
REVEALER #1 CVR A SEELEY
VAULT COMICS
JUN222028
JUN222029 – REVEALER #1 CVR B – 4.99
JUN222030 – REVEALER #1 CVR C 15 COPY INCV – 4.99
(W) Tim Seeley, Michael Moreci (A) VARIOUS, Tim Seeley (CA) Steve Seeley
Spinning out of this summer's hit indie horror film REVEALER, these four stories tie directly into the movie! Learn more about the characters, the lore, the Revealers adult bookstore, and what awaits on the other side of the biblical apocalypse.
In Shops: Aug 31, 2022
SRP: 4.99
If you haven’t seen the trailer yet… here it is. I feel like horror fans are going to get a kick out of this. It feels perfect for Shudder’s audience.
Strange New Worlds
If you follow me at all on social (and the great Lord Algorithm deems my content worthy) you probably have seen my love for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I do not want to diminish any of the fantastic Trek series that Paramount + has created thus far. I’ve very much enjoyed them all to varying degrees, especially Discovery. But SNW just feels right to this life-long Trekkie. It feels like the perfect mix of traditional Trek and newer Trek with self-contained episodes and multi-episode character arcs. The great thing, of course, is that the bounty of Trek means there’s almost a show for any taste now. Anyway, the first episode got me thinking. I wrote a journal entry about why the episode had me tearing up, the strange days we live in, who the future belongs to, and more. I zip around the topic pretty quickly. But it felt good to get it out there.
Things I’ve Greatly Enjoyed
It’s a slightly larger-than-normal edition of TIGE, because it has been two months after all! Here’s what’s been taking up my time and inspiring me lately.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
There have been a lot of movies I’ve been looking forward to lately, from some of my favorite directors—MEN and The Northman among them. And I’d say it’s already been a great year at the movie in general. But the movie that has surprised me the most so far—delighted me and tickled all the creative bones in my body—was Everything Everywhere All at Once. I wrote a slightly more detailed review on Letterboxd if you want to check it out. But I still can’t get over how beautifully done it was. It’s sometimes silly. Sometimes downright stupid. But in the best way. The way that a movie can catch you off guard, so that when it’s emotional beats deliver (and boy do they deliver) you can be laughing and crying and just feel full to bursting. At least that was my experience. If you can (and feel comfortable) I highly recommend seeing it in the theater.
Cyberpunk 2077
Again, if you follow me on Twitter you have probably seen my many image captures. I tried to not too heavy on those. But sometimes a moment of sheer beauty and awesomeness (or something funny) just compelled me. I waited to play Cyberpunk 2077 until the PS5 version was out. I’m glad I did. My play through was largely glitch free. The only mechanic that felt really broken was the body disposal. It made it hard to do any mission completely stealth. And, sure, even on regular difficulty it got pretty easy to play once you built up your character. I didn’t care. I really enjoyed the main story, was delighted Keanu Reeves had a much bigger role than I expected, and really enjoyed the side quests. In fact, I still have some of those to complete. I’m excited to make return trips to Night City. I rarely ever used the fast travel feature, because cruising around in a bevy of cool-looking futuristic videos and listening to the radio stations was always fun.
Halo (TV Series)
I’ve not watched the latest episode. So it’s a little bit of weird timing to include this. Especially as I’ve seen some hubbub online that the finale is not great. But I can say that at least everything leading up to it was fantastically well done. Now, I didn’t really start playing Halo until Halo 5. I played a few of the older ones in online play right before getting that. I still need to play Infinite. So, my knowledge of the lore of Halo is limited, and that might be to my benefit. I don’t care that we see Master Chief’s face. I’m just loving the big-budget sci-fi story on the screen. The use of practical suits for the Spartans is genius. They look amazing. And the CGI of the Covenant is spectacularly well done. Honestly, it made the VFX work in the new Doctor Strange look kind of basic in comparison. So I’m crossing my fingers hoping I like the finale. If I didn’t? No big whoop. I’m here for season 2 in any case.
Blade Runner Black Lotus (TV Series and Original Soundtrack)
I’m down for anything Blade Runner. In fact, I’m backing the new Blade Runner RPG on Kickstarter. So I was always going to watch this. But, I came to it in kind of a weird way. I kept seeing the vinyl of the soundtrack on our Milwaukee trip. But I wasn’t going to splash out the cash if I didn’t like it. I started listening to it on Spotify, and thought it was a fantastic mix of music. It’s heavy on electro-pop, which is my jam. So I bought the vinyl, and started the series. I’m on episode 9 right now, so not much further to go. But I’ve enjoyed the series immensely. I’ve seen some people don’t love the animation. It’s true that the movements of the characters can feel kind of stiff. But overall I think it looks fantastic. The score is very evocative of the original movie’s score by the late, great Vangelis. And spending more time in the future that Philip K. Dick—and then Ridley Scott, Hampton Fancher, and David Peoples—created is a joy. The series does some new things within the universe, which I appreciated.
Dance Fever - Florence + The Machine
I’m still really immersing myself in this one. I’m a huge F+TM fan, and all the singles were killer for Dance Fever. The album as a whole I’m still wrapping my head around. I’ve listened to it many times, and I enjoy the whole thing, but not all the songs have penetrated quite as fully into my brain as I know they eventually will. Beyond the singles, I’ve really enjoyed Choreomania, Cassandra, and Daffodil.
Freak Out In a Moonage Daydream OH YEAH
I’ve gone on record that David Bowie is one of my art heroes. Maybe one day I should do a better write-up about how I became a fan and why he inspires me so much. But for now, I’ll just say the teaser trailer for the Moonage Daydream documentary dropped today and it gave me goosebumps. I hope the doc can live up to this trailer, but I’m very hopeful.
In the Absence of the Grove
So, I found out a fairly disturbing thing recently. I went to go search for my book In the Dark of the Grove on Amazon. And it would not show up. Even when I put the full title in with my full name next to it! Finally I selected “Books” instead of “All Departments” and it showed up. But, well, this sucks. Marketing a book is hard. So, it’s depressing that as soon as I turn off ads, the book sinks to oblivion, and Amazon makes it harder to find for people who might hear about it via the grapevine and do a search. Sigh. Just… big sigh.
So, anyway, here’s the direct link. I’m really proud of the book. I’ve been a little asleep at the wheel promoting it. That’s been by design, mostly, but I do have some things planned to give it a little more push. But, leaving reviews on Amazon really helps. Not just ratings, but reviews. So if you have read the book and can do that, it really does help. I can tell people all day long how great my book is. But it means more coming from others, of course.
Until Next Time…
I hope you have a great rest of the month. I’m still hoping we get a little more moderate weather before the really hot stuff starts in. But, well, it’s almost June. Lots of great movies coming up, too, in the next few weeks. I’m most anticipating Top Gun: Maverick and Crimes of the Future. Maybe next month I can do a little more of a dive into the comic books I’ve been reading and enjoying because there are quite a few I’m actually trying to keep up with month to month.