Finishing May 2026 with a Delightful Spector Show!

I had the pleasure of attending the Spector Show today. It was a lovely way to close out the month, and I greatly enjoyed seeing a variety of awesome folks there! This was the second show at the new location, 4690 Lansdowne Avenue, in the American-Czech Educational Center. It's a nice, spacious area and allows a good deal of stellar vendors to all fit in a big room. As always, a lot of thanks is owed to Dave of All-American Collectibles and Spike of Lost in Space Toys and Collectibles for being two superb showrunners! I proceeded to enjoy speaking with Jeff of Magnitude 10 Comics--he brought a ton of great stuff I was excited to dig through! My good friend John of Bigfoot Comic and Collectibles had some cool newer and vintage comics on offer--it was fun catching up with him. Wayne was selling some delicious baked goods that I had the pleasure of eating. Many had a fun theme, like the skeleton ones and the Doctor Who-related chocolates. Here's a picture of his display:

Tatertot Comics' display was packed with an immense number of books; I discussed with their crew how I was excited for their, "Junior," convention this coming June 14th. Callisto Comics had a large number of comics for great prices, and Bruce was present at the show with some definitely impressive comics for sale as well! Geoff had a mix of cool comics, including some incredibly old newspaper comic strips that were over a century old! Dan sold me a really cool old, "Alien Worlds," comic with gorgeous Dave Stevens' artwork. Observe:

The creative team from, "Crypt of Heroes," had their rad work for sale, and Tom had a nice assortment of comics for sale. CoMo Comics brought a truckload of great reads that they were selling as well. A good number of other vendors were present too, and I was pleased with the mix of comics, whether someone was more of a Modern Age collector (such as myself) or seeking out everything from the Bronze Age, to Silver, back to the Golden Age! I always have such a lovely time at the Spector Show thanks to the sheer volume of fantastic comics and comic-related items for sale! I look forward to the next one on July 26th and would encourage anyone able to attend to make sure and stop by! 

"John of the Night," is an Amazing Graphic Novel With a New Kickstarter Campaign!

I had a chance to read a digital copy of, "John of the Night," from Avery Hill Publishing, and absolutely loved it! A mix of sci-fi, a hint of superheroics, and a good dash of snarky humor results in a superb original graphic novel that I was a big fan of. The story is centered on a far-future scientist named John, who, along with his daughter, Ayshea, need to save the entire universe. As for the threat, it includes demi-gods, legendary creatures, and others who would destroy everything flawed in the name of achieving a skewed view of, "Perfection."

Written and illustrated by Darryl Cunningham, there is currently a Kickstarter campaign for those who have an interest in the book to get themselves a copy. I'd definitely advise anyone who likes quirky sci-fi tales to check it out, with the vaguely minimalist art style lending everything a superb vibe, whether we're floating in space or learning the story of an assassin from a vaguely medieval era who possesses the ability to see through all of time (I told you, it's a wild read)! I was a fan of Cunningham's nonfiction works he's put out over the years, but I really adored this awesome story! I wish the Kickstarter campaign success and look forward to when everyone can get their hands on this fantastic read!

Funko Quietly Gave Up on NFTs

Funko as a brand, is struggling. They've tried various gimmicks, with some working out well and others falling flat on their face. A number of years ago, a lot of people were into NFTs and the idea of owning digital tokens of art, or whatever. It was a thankfully short-lived fad, but Funko did dabble in it with the admittedly fun fact that when you opened their NFT, "Packs," you had the chance to get a token you could redeem for a real (physical) Funko Pop to be shipped to your house. For some time, little had been happening, with many stating the program was most likely dead. About a month ago, Funko made it official with a little press release that received minimal fanfare (although props to the streamers known as Gastlecast for, "Calling it," months in advance that Funko NFTs were dead). No more Funko NFTs, and they're shutting down the digital market, Droppp, that was utilized for the Funko NFTs, so at least folks were given a warning to take their money out as opposed to this being a, "Rug pull," situation.

I have always been critical of NFTs and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin or any others) in general. I don't like it, trust it, or use it. I am always interested in new and cutting-edge technology, but crypto always seemed more like a scammer's dream than that of an inventor. I'm frankly surprised it took Funko this long to give up on NFTs, and even though I buy their products a lot less these days, I do still find their stuff fun and charming enough that I hope the company manages to keep existing. I won't miss the NFTs, though.

"Midgardr," Looks Like a Clever Genre-Mixing Game

Carolina Ronchi of the indie game development team Holy Radish recently reached out to me (as folks sometimes do to share about a project they're working on). She wanted to tell me about how they had an upcoming game called, "Midgardr," that I might be interested in. With a demo launching on June 3rd, this game is, "a solo, turn-based city builder and card game played directly on a [virtual] board, where the player rules as a medieval administrator. From reading up on the game and looking at clips, it intrigues me as someone who has enjoyed city-building games, card games, and the like. I always love when creation takes different genres and finds clever ways to mash them up--just look at my recent review of, "Drop Duchy," and its blend of Tetris and wargaming for one example.

"Midgardr," has a storyline, political intrigue, and moral choices, along with the expected stuff like resource management and fiddling with your city's setup to make it function as productively as you can. Set for release during this year, I hope it is as good as it looks and successful enough to be ported to various consoles (my computer is far too old/lacking in fancy equipment for any games). The reaction of folks to the launch of the demo on June 3rd will be exciting to see!

Bringing, "Back," Stan Lee or Anyone Else With a Creepy AI Raises Many Concerns

Stan Lee is dead. Unlike comic-book characters, he died and is not coming back. Many articles painted his last years before his passing in 2018 as pretty dismal in terms of his quality of life and everyone around him, from family to employees, bleeding him dry--at times literally. Once you're dead I imagine you don't care what happens with your name or likeness (unless there is some way to check in from whatever afterlife might/might not exist), but your estate can protest and profit. Those who own your likeness might be okay with the idea of you dancing with a vacuum cleaner (to be fair, some of Fred Astaire's family was displeased) via doctoring old movie footage. They may even hear that AI can create the illusion that you're alive to think, talk, and tell jokes. ElevenLabs sold Stan Lee Universe, the joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment on this idea as now they can, "...add the late Marvel Comics writer’s voice and likeness to the ElevenLabs Iconic Marketplace, its collection of celebrity personality voices and likenesses that companies can license for commercial use."

This is the tech equivalent of taking a celebrity and attaching a bunch of strings to their corpse so you can make them dance around like a puppet. Stan Lee was a complicated and controversial figure, but I doubt anyone would argue against him being a master showman. That is, "Showman," as in, "Human," however. An AI does not truly have Stan's charisma, personality, or anything beyond people believing it was, "Trained," to mimic him and then be programmed to sell us a Marvel-branded juicer or some other junk. While Lee was alive, he did basically attach his name/likeness to anything, and everything from a cartoon about a stripper superhero to a reality show focused on being a real-life superhero. Lee was, in fact, alive and able to agree to these things, however. 

No. Nope. Absolutely Not.

An, "AI Stan Lee," can't ink a business agreement. It can't truly be okay with spouting off an endorsement for, "Marvel brand condoms, keep your genitals more secure than Iron Man's armor!" Even if the real Stan Lee would've been cool with this in some fashion, the whole thing is just ghoulish. What's next? We bring back AI versions of loved ones so we pretend they never really died? That's a whole mess of psychological trauma right there that I worry a lot of psychiatrists/psychologists will be dealing with soon. We're not just approaching Uncanny Valley anymore, we're living in it. Our virtual graverobbing will probably just be the tip of a scary iceberg.

Happy 38th Birthday, to Me!

I'm officially 38 today, even if my maturity level lags years behind--fart jokes will never cease being funny! It is wild to think how people in their late teens or early 20's look at me as an old fogey and my Gen-X friends in their late 40s think I'm still a young'un. It goes to show, in some ways, our experience of time is quite relative--especially when I'll talk about something I remember watching/reading like it was yesterday, and it turns out to be over a decade old. I'm overjoyed to have my wonderful family to spend this birthday, and I want to thank all you blog readers for sticking with me, however many days/weeks/months/years you've been checking the site out!

Later May Links and News of Interest

June is drawing near, but before the conclusion of this month, I shall share some pieces of news and such that I found interesting. Let us proceed...

In one of countless examples of the Missouri legislature ignoring the will of the people, our congress has taken the face our state voted for safe and legal abortion in 2024 with Amendment 3 and want to trick everyone with a new, "Amendment 3," designed to steal reproductive rights away yet again. The fact they used the same number and everything is particularly sneaky/sleazy.

With a strong creative team (including Robert Kirkman, Joe Casey, Andy Kubert and more) behind the upcoming comic, "Terminal," it definetely has piqued my interest more than your usual, "New superhero universe,"-type story. Comics Beat did an interview about the series I enjoyed reading.

The new James Bond video-game focused on the character in his younger years, "007 First Light," is getting a lot of glowing reviews. I'd be interested in renting it and (hopefully) having a good time.

"Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu," made over 100 million dollars in its opening weekend, but that is also the smallest opening ever for a Star Wars flick. Hence, people who love Star Wars can say how it is still a huge success with all that cash and those who hate Star Wars can say it is somehow a flop. Honestly, sometimes Star Wars fans equally love and hate the whole franchise.

Uber spent a lot of money on AI tech for various purposes and even the CEO isn't sure there was much cost-effectiveness despite how some folk swear by ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini to a surreal degree. I find AI handy for doing some math or figuring out the name of song I vaguely recall the lyrics for, but I wouldn't trust it with the success of my megacorporation.

Finally, I was sad to see the end of, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." It was hilarious he popped-up a day later on Michigan Public Access and CBS is apparently already trying to ignore the fact he ever existed at their network. Honestly, with his show gone and the unending rumors of Gayle King being fired or demoted in the future, I could have basically zero reason to even watch CBS until the premiere of, "Big Brother," in July. I hope whatever gig Colbert lands in the future he find happiness!

Memorial Day 2026

Today is Memorial Day. This federal holiday is specifically for the appreciation and mourning of soldiers who died serving in any branch of the United States' Armed Forces. I feel a great gratitude for anyone who is dedicated enough to this country that they would die in its service. I feel I am far too cynical, far too let down by those who have power in America, and (to be frank) way too out of shape to ever serve our country in the military, let alone lose my life doing so. 

Even if throughout the years there have been plenty of politicians who have tried to warp this nation into whatever they want, the American dream persists, and it is a dream that survives thanks to our military being ready to defend it. You can despise those who currently have control over the military in our nation (you all know my feelings on Donald Trump and this current Iran war), but still deeply appreciate the men and women in service to our country. The point of today is to commemorate those who are no longer with us, due to all they gave for America. I hope everyone has a thoughtful Memorial Day.

The, "Halloween Man," Graphic Novel is Full of Genre-Mixing Fun

"Halloween Man," refuses to fit neatly into a genre, "Box," if you attempt to describe it. There are horror elements, superheroes, comedy, retro-futuristic sci-fi concepts, and more. Basically, if you took a bunch of ideas and tossed them into a blender, you might worry the result would be a nasty mess. However, in this case, you get the metaphorically tasty drink of, "Halloween Man." I saw the solicitation for this trade paperback a bit ago with Red 5 as the publisher; the variety of concepts piqued my interest, and I'm glad to have read this TPB, as I loved, "Halloween Man." This graphic novel actually is a bit of a collection of earlier works, as the creator/writer, Drew Edwards, has been crafting stories with our titular character and putting them online for years now. 

The basic plot is essentially how a man named Solomon Kane was almost killed, came back as a sentient zombie of sorts, and now is a bit of an anti-hero bounty hunter. Humans and, "Real," superheroes don't care for him, and he's a little too brutal and human for the monsters. The best he can usually get from folk is begrudging respect, but at least the love of his life, Lucy, has stayed by his side (plus the fact she's a supergenius comes in handy when he's in danger). The, "Halloween Man," graphic novel collects a number of stories with some connecting more than others and the artists vary a lot--although things always look good. Whether Halloween Man is fighting a strange sea monster, combating robot mobsters, or on any other wacky adventure, every tale in this collection is great! Plus, this TPB includes a highly enjoyable crossover with Tim Seeley's characters of Cassie Hack and Vlad from another stellar and long-running comic, "Hack/Slash," with that story especially being a hoot.

You can access a bunch of, "Halloween Man," via Global Comix, and if you buy the physical collection, that increases the chances that Red 5 might publish more stories, as Edwards mentioned in an interview. There's also a Facebook page for fans of Halloween Man to keep updated. I know I am eager to read more adventures of Halloween Man, whether it's on the internet or in a book!

5 out of 5 Stars.

Facebook Has Launched a New App Focused on Groups and it's Called Forum

Without any fanfare or hype, Facebook released, "Forum." It is a standalone app that looks and works a lot like Reddit, but for Facebook groups. You do still need a Facebook account, but it is a nice way to access any Facebook groups you are in without having to use a browser or the Facebook app itself. It makes a little feed of things you might find interesting from your various groups, as well as--sigh--having a bunch of built-in AI features designed to assist you in discovering new groups by chatting with the little bot-character. Facebook did have a standalone group app, which it killed in 2017 ("Groups,"), but this time the idea here seems to be going hard on mirroring Reddit and having a bunch of AI filler due to that being the new, "Hot," thing in apps.

I will say the design is nice, probably because everything about how this looks reminds me so much of Reddit, but with more blue-ish colors instead of reds and oranges. As I said, you need to have a Facebook account to use this, so the idea of people who merely want to engage in groups utilizing the app goes out the window--leading me to ask, "Who is this for?" I believe a lot more people would be intrigued if there were a way to use the groups and view them in a feed format without having Facebook itself--or as I saw some comments essentially say, "Just give me this, a standalone marketplace, and let me delete Facebook!" Without that, I believe a really niche audience will use this that fall into maybe two demographics--you'll have people who were hankering for their Facebook groups to resemble Reddit a bit more, and those who want to inject a ton of AI into their Facebook group experiences. I swear, find a way to let people have an account on Forum without nearly as much Facebook baggage (even if there is some), and this could really take off. Otherwise, this might just fade away as quietly as it was launched.

Flashback Friday: With the Upcoming Release of, "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced," Everything Old is New Again

I played many of the earlier, "Assasin's Creed," games and while, "Assasin's Creed III," might be my favorite, I've got plenty of love for, "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag," and mix of the usual Creed-stuff and addition of piracy shenanigans. Ubisoft's pirate-centric game, "Skull and Bones," was in development Hell forever before with released and bombed, hard. It seems the company decided to go back to what works, as there were rumors of an ACIV remake, and it was recently confirmed we're getting, "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced." The release date is actually already close, July of this year.

A lot of ACIV/Resynced has been tweaked, but the meat and potatoes of it apparently still is great, plus now it looks even better thanks to all the tweaks 13 years(!) since its initial release. Some news outlets that have had hands-on time felt things were a bit clumsy, but it seems the overall consensus is that this is a fun remake that excises a lot of the annoying elements (those weird first-person modern-day segments), adds in features that came later to the series that were helpful, and so forth. There have been a lot of, "Assassin's Creed," games over the years, and I've probably missed out on more than I've played just due to how often a game comes out in the series. That said, I'll admit I am a bit excited at the thought of dipping my toes back into an overhauled version of this game so that I get a mix of nostalgia while enjoying a bunch of improvements.

Someone Tricked a SWAT Team Into Scaring a Grandma Raising Money via Video-Games for Her Sick Grandchild; What is Wrong With People?

If you need some news to illustrate how humanity is increasingly becoming terrible, here you go. An 81-year-old grandmother who has been live-streaming herself playing video games so that she can raise money to help pay for her grandson’s cancer treatment was the victim of a cruel and dangerous, “Prank.” Known online as GrammaCrackers, Sue Jacquot found herself awoken with quite the surprise when a SWAT team burst into her house under the assumption (from a fake caller) that Sue was dead, and her grandchild had shot her with plans to kill himself. This is part of an idiotic online trend known as, “Swatting.” A number of Internet streamers have fallen victim to this, and it can get people seriously hurt or even killed--we're talking SWAT teams that are ready to use lethal force in extremely dangerous situations.

Controversial figures seem to fall victim to this a lot more often, of course. Still, it raises the question of why someone would do something so crass and unsafe to a sweet old lady raising money for a sick grandchild? To her credit, Sue discussed everything online and even remarked that the whole event was, “Kind of fun.” Still, this is another example of people trying to use the Internet for good, and then it being used by terrible people as well. At least this brought more attention to Sue/GrammaCrackers and her admirable work to help her grandson. I can only hope it assists in raising more money, whilst I also shake my head at how the American healthcare system has put Sue and her family in such a difficult situation.

Spotify is Getting Rid of Their Ugly New Logo, Thank God

Spotify revealed a new logo of a green disco ball thing, and it was hideous. When I saw it on my iPhone screen for the first time, I thought something had glitched out. It seems everyone hated it, and Spotify has heard all the complaints--the old logo returns next week. There are many, many things wrong with the World, but at least this monstrosity is being corrected.

Kickstarter Walks Back its Adult Content Ban, Leaves Vague Warnings

I previously discussed how Kickstarter was beginning to target anything it considered overly sexual/adult in nature due to concerns that its payment processor, Stripe, would be an issue. Well, after a lot of outcry, it was announced by Kickstarter that they would only be working to ban/shut down anything outright illegal, or that was, "Pornography." Basically, reverting things back to normal, right? Well, not exactly. 

Buried in all this is Kickstarter pointing out that they won't necessarily shut down your campaign, but Stripe could still object to something. Then you're S.O.L. when it comes time to actually collect any funds from your successful Kickstarter campaign that happens to have something spicy enough to enrage Stripe (perhaps a nipple or acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people and how they enjoy having sex too, as Queer content always faces a lot more scrutiny). Kickstarter has apologized and acknowledged they could have expressed concerns about adult content and payment processing in a better fashion. Still, the damage is done, and a lot of people probably have a good deal less trust in Kickstarter or interest in utilizing it for their projects (comics or otherwise) as different options make themselves apparent--friend of the blog, Mike Wolfer, and other creators have discussed their future utilization of Dooz for comics with any content they worry could anger Kickstarter/Stripe. A reputation Kickstarter built over many years became tarnished in a matter of days; quite a shame.

Marvel Comics Shakeup!

Afternoon Update:

Apparently, a lot of people are being let go/shoved out at Marvel. No one is sure what the heck is going on, but it seems like an executive cleanout, so to speak. This is getting pretty wild.

Original Post:

There are various aspects of Marvel overseen by different folks (with Disney as the big-boss nowadays). Sometimes there is a lot of turnover, and on other occasions it is hard to imagine a position filled by someone else. Dan Buckley has been the main publisher/president of Marvel for nearly 30 years, but he has announced that he is departing Marvel--although he'll be around in some capacity through 2027 in more of an advisory role. As for who is replacing him, "Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum will join as Head of Marvel Television, Animation, Comics & Franchise. He will oversee the creative direction of Marvel’s expansive publishing portfolio, as well as Marvel’s global brand and franchise efforts, in addition to his current role overseeing television and animation. Joining Marvel from Disney, David Abdo will serve as General Manager, Comics & Franchise, reporting to Winderbaum."

Is this good, bad, or something in between? I can't predict the future, but this is definitely a big shift and signals something is going to change at Marvel. I would hope things go in a better direction for Marvel's comics, as I've been writing a lot more lately about being disappointed in the company's output than excited by it (and plenty of people out there seem to agree with me based on a Googling recent criticisms of Marvel's comics). I am very curious what the next couple of years will hold for Marvel's comics and what kind of new initiatives/plans we can expect to see. Time will tell.

This Doctor Doom Cover from the Latest, "Captain America," Run is Simply Rad

I've been reading the latest run of, "Captain America," and quite enjoying it. Marvel seems to be struggling, in general, to have much of note comic-wise lately, but I do continue to enjoy Jed MacKay's work on, "Moon Knight," and Chip Zdarsky has been giving us some stellar stories about Steve Rogers. The latest relaunch overcame how it annoyingly, "Reset," the continuity a bit, yet again, having Steve Rogers being found in the ice and brought back in 2001 shortly after 9/11. The initial arc involved Captain America's first meeting with Doctor Doom being retold/told or such, and some of the variant covers were done by Zdarsky as he is an artist as well (he's illustrated various series before gaining further renown as a writer). This brings me to my point of how I did not even know Zdarsky made a really cool variant cover with Doctor Doom and the American flag, but he did--and I stumbled upon it the other day and found it amazing. It is featured above.

This wasn't a ratio cover or anything, just one of the variants for the third issue. It is imposing, full of interesting subtext, and just looks cool. The minimalism is perfection, with Doom's usual green finding itself replaced by red, white, and blue, just working so well visually and as a commentary on Doom's style of imperialism versus...well, America's version. I rarely buy a comic just for the cover, but even though I have these comics with the main, "A," iteration, I bought this variant at the comic shop. "Captain America," is currently up past ten issues and remains a stellar read--perhaps I should check for any other cool covers I might have unwillingly missed!

Comic Publisher Valiant Worryingly Seems to Have Plans With Heavy AI Involvement

Valiant was a big comic publisher decades ago. They went bankrupt and disappeared, but in 2012, new folks got the licenses and relaunched the brand with some really good comics. In 2018, many of the people associated with Valiant left when it was bought out by DMG, and it has been mostly downhill since. From weird NFT schemes to an attempt at a cinematic universe that flopped, to nearly stopping putting out any comics before getting assistance from IDW so as to at least put out something, it has been a series of mishaps. It just got worse.

Valiant has been putting posters online discussing some new project with taglines including, "Hint: It's not a comic book," and all these images really look like AI was used. One would think comic publishers/makers/etc. would be extremely against using AI, "Art," as its soulless slop made out of digital bits and bobs through stealing real work. Could Valiant have some weird animated AI show coming, as I would guess? We don't yet know, but longtime fans are enraged at the prospect of Valiant pulling this B.S. It has been quite the fall from grace for Valiant. Everyone's extra mad at them, and we don't even know what this new so-called product will be. Such a mess.

"Absolute Green Arrow," is Getting Lots of Buzz and Selling Out and Before it Even Hits Shelves

DC's variety of books in the new, "Absolute," Universe have been huge hits. The main trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) have gotten a ton of buzz, but other characters' series and mini-series have been quite stellar too (Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter). The latest upcoming titles are, "Absolute Catwoman," and, "Absolute Green Arrow." Those who read the, "Absolute Evil," one-shot know that Oliver Queen was killed by the Absolute Universe's nefarious forces, but it seems that didn't stop him. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque, Oliver Queen isn't truly gone. He's back as some kind of undead force of vengeance, and his new comic looks like a straight-up horror story, which I find quite interesting.

Other people are intrigued by the upcoming, "Green Arrow," as well. It has already sold out at the distributor level (shops won't be able to order more copies than they previously did), and a second printing is on the way. The first issue hits comic shops this Wednesday, the 20th, and if it is as popular as this early buzz indicates, you'd better move quickly to get a copy!

Flashback Friday: When Episodic Gaming Seemed Like the Next Big Thing

In the early 2000's and some of the 2010's everyone was excited about episodic gaming. The big release of "Half-Life 2," was a huge hit. Then we started getting the episodes with 1, 2, and then...nothing. That VR-exclusive spin-off, "Alyx," is apparently a hoot and moves the story of, "Half-Life," forward a bit, but we're still waiting for a third episode, game, or anything else. Episodic gaming was hyped up as this big thing that would change games...and then fell flat on its face. The, "Half-Life," series wasn't alone, of course. Another example would be the sequel to the first-person shooter, "SiN," that was the promising-but-flawed  "SiN Episodes. " Another big promise of games-as-episodes that stalled out.

Episodic gaming did not utterly fail. Telltale did a solid job with its adventure games before it folded, and how each one would release in episodes. They did that with, "The Walking Dead," and their, "Fables," game, Batman game, and so forth. A bunch of people who used to be at Telltale and are now with AdHoc Studio dropped episodes of, "Dispatch," quite recently, so releasing your game in episodes can work, for a certain style of game, perhaps. Still, the reboot of, "SiN," was kind of cool even if it only dropped a single-of-a-planned-nine entries. It was a fun two to four hours, by all accounts (I vaguely recall maybe playing it way back in 2006/2007 or so without it making much of an impact in my mind), but just ran out of steam, money, etc.

"Half-Life," and its third episode/game/whatever has no official announcement all these years later, but there actually is a new, "SiN," game of sorts in the form of, "SiN Reloaded," which take the original games and updates it for modern audiences with the studio behind it eager to possibly finish, "SiN Episodes," all these years later in some fashion. Never say die, I suppose. I do wonder if the sequel was revisted and completed, if it would just be an entire game or done in little releases? Imagine if 20-something years after the (mostly) failure of episodic gaming outside of some adventure games that the format made a big comeback. At least, that way we wouldn't be waiting decades for some big-name games if little chunks came out now and then at an affordable price--emphasis on affordable. Strange things are always happening in the World of gaming.

Create a Villain for DC, Get Zero Credit

Work for hire in the field of comics means you get paid to create stories, characters, and the like. You receive credit for what you did, but at the end of the day, you own nothing you did for those companies (such as big dogs Marvel and DC). You do have a paycheck and can say, "I made ____ and its popular now," so that is something. However, DC has a new contest of sorts called the, "Building Bad Sweepstakes," which, as Bleedingcool touched on today is, "...a competition allowing one winner to help create an all-new DC Batman Super-Villain who may become part of the official DC canon. The character will debut in the pages of DC's comics, along with an appearance in the highly anticipated video game LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, both scheduled for September." That said, you don't get credit for making the character or any royalties after they give you some money for winning the drawing/contest (and then they'll decide whether to use your ideas or not). Yep, you get to partner with DC and possibly see your creation come to life, except legally it isn't even your creation! 

I don't know about you, but if I have a cool idea and a company worth billions would like to use it, I'd make sure a royalty check comes anytime my creation is utilized. A lump sum and then the possibility (however remote) that my creation could become hugely popular, yet I get no credit or further funds, is a turn-off for sure. Hell, I'll possibly enter the contest, but if they draw my name, I'll just take the cash prize and keep my ideas to myself unless Image wants to publish something of mine someday--at least then I own the rights!

Kickstarter to Ban any Adult-Styled Comics and Content in General After Making Millions From Them for Years

Kickstarter has been a popular spot for years to fund a project/idea. Comic creators love it because Kickstarter can help take an idea that could be too niche for a mainstream publisher and allow them to sell directly to their audience. This can, at times, include comics with a more adult leaning/focus. A number of these comics appeal to heterosexual readers, and some have LGBTQ themes that bigger publishers would shy away from (some comic companies are okay with sex, but only if it's hetero). Kickstarter has made tons of money off comic projects, many of them adult-leaning. Perhaps they feel they've made enough to turn their back on a lot of people, because Kickstarter released new and extremely detailed rules about mature/adult content. I'm talking bullet points about, "Not allowing visible nipples poking through clothing in a drawing," levels of prudishness. It’s not just comics, it is everything (so look out, edgy video-games).

Friend of the blog (and general friend), Mike Wolfer penned an open letter to Kickstarter online, and Bleedingcool shared it along with the thoughts of other creators who are quite enraged. Kickstarter grew into what it is off their backs and has decided to cast them aside now that they aren't needed. The given reason? A credit card payment processor company called Stripe has, over recent years, become extremely anti-adult-anything. They don't like processing payments for things that are outright porn or at all mature under the guise of they, "Get returned more," but this seems more like a weird religious/prudishness thing than anything else. Extreme levels of violence are fine, so feel free to chop a woman's head off in your comic, but don't you dare have someone consensually kiss her exposed nipple! There has been a rise of anti-sex/eroticism vibes due to conservatives gaining/stealing power, and oftentimes a lot of this is framed as, "Protecting children," even though lots of this adult material usually demands you prove you are--you know--an adult. Plus, I mentioned how anything LGBTQ that even hints vaguely at sex oftentimes finds itself censored a lot more than straight people bumping uglies, which adds an extra flavor of homophobia and transphobia to this shit sandwich Kickstarter's users are being fed.

If you don't want sexy comics in your life, don't back them on Kickstarter or read them. If you like comics that sometimes feature sex or even some nudity, then go find yourself some quality comics that provide such a thing. It should be as simple as that, but credit card processors, Kickstarter, and oftentimes politicians want to rob you of making that choice and having independence--not very patriotic, I'd say. This is quite a mess, and I am curious to see how it shakes out.

eBay Declares, "No," Quite Clearly to GameStop's Acquisition Attempt

GameStop's attempt to buy eBay made zero sense to almost anyone. eBay had no reason to consider a smaller company with a rocky history approaching it. GameStop lacked much to offer or any reason to try to acquire eBay. The CEO of GameStop, Ryan Cohen, really wanted to force something to happen, however. Well, one thing that has happened is eBay responded to GameStop's unsolicited buyout offer with a resounding, "No." Declaring it, "Neither credible nor attractive," eBay's board reacted the same way you probably do when someone knocks on your door to sell you pest control services--politely turn them down and quickly shut the door. In this case, however, the rejection is very public, and all the news sites are talking about it. GameStop's whole attempt to buy eBay looked absurd and doomed from the start, so the only thing that surprised me was that eBay waited even a handful of days to turn GameStop down.

Marvel’s Midnight Universe Has Been Unveiled and It's a Bit Underwhelming

I wrote just a smidgen ago about how Marvel was hinting about a new, “Midnight Universe,” that would feature Marvel with more of a horror bent. Many people, myself included, thought this meant a lot of beloved and cult creepy characters Marvel has would be featured in dark, edgy tales. Well, Marvel just started releasing details this week. We’re getting X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man…but evil/scary. Yawn.  Oh, and the X-Men are, of course, vampires because Marvel always has had a weird affinity for making the X-Men hang out with or occasionally turn into vampires (hey, Jubilee).

A twisted universe with no heroes and only monstrous versions of Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, the Werewolf by Night, and Blade or such could be such a cool concept. Instead, we’re just churning out another iteration of the biggest characters Marvel has—but spooky! This news has evaporated much of my interest in the Midnight Universe. The creative teams are quite good, which is the only thing that hasn’t utterly erased a cautious optimism I feel. Jonathan Hickman with Matteo Della Fonte on the X-Men book, Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker doing Fantastic Four, and Phillip Kennedy-Johnson with Scie Tronc—the first-ever Marvel book he’s done art for.

I sincerely hope the Midnight Universe is indeed Marvel’s horror-heavy answer to DC’s immense success with the Absolute Universe. I want all comic publishers to do well, big or small, because then the comic industry itself remains strong. Healthy sales benefit everyone, but I just don’t know if this Midnight Universe sounds particularly interesting or all that new. The X-Men have had plenty of interactions with vampires, and Spider-Man has been a more spider-like beast on numerous occasions, too. The Fantastic Four comic does intrigue me a bit, however, because Percy and Walker are a Hell of a good team. Basically, I will try the first issues of each of these series, and we’ll see what happens from there.

Music Mondays: "Flex," By Cupid Remains a Straightforward and Catchy Tune

The song, "Flex," by the music artist Cupid, is not a complex tune. It involves him telling an unnamed person to flex their body because they are sexy, whilst he also shouts out dance moves for listeners to do. That said, the beat, melody, and crooning combine to make a strangely addictive tune that admittedly goes a bit long for what it is (almost four minutes), but still  makes you want to get up and move about. It's been out for some time, but it remains a big hit at parties. Have a listen here:

Do you see what I mean? I'm not sure what it is, but that jam gets me all hyped up and ready to dance! The song came out back in 2020 and has become a popular piece for everyone to line up and groove to at parties. I feel that six-ish years ago isn't quite long enough to dedicate a Flashback Friday to this song, so I put it where I thought it'd fit better, here in Music Mondays. Just know that if you're at a party and this tune comes on, you're definitely at a location that knows how to have fun!

Happy Mother's Day 2026

I want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the moms or motherly figures. You are special, important, and make the lives of the people you care for better. I am thankful for my own mom, who was a very patient parent as I was growing up. I also want to send my love out to my wife (who is the mother of our children), Samii. Have a great Mother's Day, everyone!

Witchblade and Vampirella Are Getting Into the Publisher Crossover Craze!

We've seen a lot of crossovers between Marvel and DC lately. The trend has been that we get one comic with a character's name featured, followed by another issue that flips the headliner. Hence, "Deadpool/Batman," as well as, "Batman/Deadpool" and more. I suppose Top Cow (an imprint of Image) and Dynamite wanted to get a piece of the fun (and make some scratch) because, for the first time in 20 years Witchblade and Vampirella are teaming-up for, "Witchblade/Vampirella," #1, by Marguerite Bennett and Laura Braga as well as, "Vampirella/Witchblade," #1, by Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti.

I'm all for different comic-book companies having fun crossovers, as in a worst-case scenario, we just get silly fan-service, but in a best-case scenario, we'll be able to enjoy some creative takes on popular characters having some new/rarely seen interactions. Both characters have a slight horror and sci-fi bent, are popular for occasionally cheesecakey art, and the creative teams are great writers and artists. Keep your eyes peeled for the first crossover issue in late August; it should be a fun read!

The Unwanted and Unneeded Return of the R-Word

I saw how NPR had a segment discussing, "The worrisome return of the R-Word," late last month. It is a good listen and only 14 minutes long. The general idea is how the word, "Retarded," started out in medical settings, became an insult/slur, faded away, and unfortunately clawed its way back into some of the cultural dialogue (and is nowadays often used to insult those with differing political views or say unkind things about politicians). Unlike slurs that are more specific to race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, the general thrust of insults that suggest disability is that someone is somehow less-than and incompetent--as if those with a disability are too. You've doubtlessly seen folks claiming, "I'm not insulting the disabled, I'm just calling out regular people who are being stupid," but that's equivalent to claiming you didn't start a forest fire but are happy to throw kindling on it.

I never saw the appeal of using, "Retarded," as a slur when I was a child in the 1990's, even though it was at that time quite the common insult for some to utilize. It seemed like in the process of trying to hurt one person's feelings, you were being mean to those with an intellectual disability who did nothing wrong to you. It was never in my vocabulary and even as I've gotten older and will sometimes swear when upset you're more likely to hear me utter, "Shit," or tell someone they're an "Asshole," than to ever throw out an R-word or any other kind of slur related to a demographic. If you keep a word out of your vocabulary, there is little chance you'll purposely or accidentally use it. I quite dislike this word seeming to creep back into dialogues and arguments, be they in-person or via the internet. You could say I'm being oversensitive and whining, but I don't see why anyone desires to even hint at someone being disabled as a kind of insult. It makes little logical sense, is hurtful, and diminishes the struggles faced by those with a real disability, as well as what they are capable of despite any challenges they face. Basically, use your creativity when hurling insults instead of resorting to such a lazy and thoughtless word. Put some work into your put-downs, people!

Marvel Is Hinting at a New, "Midnight," Universe Coming This Fall

Marvel is in the process of wrapping up their reboot of the Ultimate Universe (I'm still shocked they are actually ending it) and just started hinting at something called the, "Midnight Universe," with the tagline, "A terrifying new universe from Marvel Comics arrives this fall." Upon seeing this my first thought was Marvel is going to try and do something similar to DC's smash-hit Absolute Universe, with some kind of dark or scary twist...hence the spooky-ish time of Midnight? Well, Bleeding Cool has announced with a big All-Caps, "SCOOP," that the Midnight Universe is a mix of Marvel's answer to the Absolute Universe and will have a horror focus. Jonathan Hickman, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, and Benjamin Percy will all be working together for a radically reimagined alternate Marvel Universe that will have a focus on Blade, Ghost Rider, Darkhold, Dracula, Morbius, and the good ol' Werewolf By Night.

This announcement has me feeling both a bit cynical and excited. I am rolling my eyes a bit at the idea of Marvel so unabashedly going, "Let's do our own Absolute-type thing!" but hearing it has a horror bent perks my ears up as someone who enjoys sci-fi and horror comics, as well as superhero stories that twist the genre a bit into those styles. Will there be enough interest in a more horror-styled alternate universe for this line to succeed or will it fall flat on its face? Nobody can (for sure) know as very few predicted the Absolute line would be as popular as it has become--I will say I am eager to learn more because I'm always down for a solid Blade or Ghost Rider yarn. Marvel will officially be revealing more next week, so let's stay tuned for the (official) details that will be coming before too long.

Ted Turner Has Died

Ted Turner has passed. He was 87 and had been open about having a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. The man who brought us the 24-hour news cycle, Turner was dedicated to conservation and philanthropy. He was also quite outspoken and rubbed a number of people the wrong way with his statements—and made it known he didn't care if feathers were ruffled! At one point, he was married to Jane Fonda--a talented actress known for her own controversies. 

Ted Turner did a lot of good compared to some billionaires who one could quite easily classify as, “Awful people.” I’m not saying Ted Turner was some kind of unicorn, “Wonderful billionaire,” but by many accounts, he was a good guy considering how he could have turned out. I always found Turner to be a fascinating individual whenever I read about his life or saw interviews with him. It seems many folks will miss him, so he must’ve done something right in his life. Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

We Are Getting a New-ish, "Star Fox," Game After All

I wrote exactly a month ago how, "I'm Down for a (Good) New Star Fox Game," and Nintendo surprised everyone today with some news! Yep, we're getting, "Star Fox," for the Switch 2...albeit as a big remake of the beloved Nintendo 64 game. Due on June 25th, it looks pretty, will have online multiplayer, and has some folks excited and others saying it, "Looks fine." If we're being blunt, it does seem like Nintendo would rather infinitely remake Star Fox games than create a new one. I suppose some kind of, "New," Star Fox is better than none, hence, I do plan to check it out. They're remaking an awesome game, so it should at least be fun, after all!

The Past Keeps Fading Away--Newsarama is Done, Ask Jeeves Shut Down, and ComiXology is Good and Truly Dead

Things that were big on the internet years ago and managed to barely hold on for a while have all ceased to exist relatively close to each other, randomly. Newsarama was a hot spot for comic-book news and then, due to various sales and mergers, became a shadow of itself before being utterly gutted at the end of April and firing its last writer. ComiXology has been slowly being broken down into parts, and now its last employee has, "Exited the building." The once-popular search engine known as Ask Jeeves/Ask ceased operations on May 1st as well. Lots of stuff popular in the late 90's or early 2000's is gone, and these sites are just some examples of that. Time keeps marching on, I suppose.

A Free, "Dungeon Crawler Carl," Comic is Turning into a Hot Commodity

A small number of months ago, I learned about, "Dungeon Crawler Carl." It is a popular book series about a man who competes in fantasy dungeons for the approval of space aliens, although there is a lot more to it. I've heard it is great stuff, and I do want to pick up at least the first book to check out all the hype. It was recently announced that a television/streaming show is in the works (so it's been optioned), and for Free Comic Book Day, Vault happened to publish a, "Dungeon Crawler Carl," comic, "#0," issue. An issue that is now selling for $15 per copy--a freebie turned collectible, I suppose! That's interesting, but it gets really wild seeing how certain variants of the zero issue (that did cost a bit of money as opposed to being free) are going for way above cover price on secondary markets such as eBay. There seems to be a real hunger for, "Dungeon Crawler Carl," content, and I do wonder if these comics will still, "Pop," in the market in the future--perhaps if a possible show is a hit? All I can tell you is I knew of Carl and his dungeon crawling, but now I see just how hardcore his fans can be!

In Defiance of All Reality, GameStop Wants to Buy eBay

GameStop is a struggling retailer worth about 12 billion dollars. eBay is a massive e-commerce entity worth around $46 billion. GameStop has made moves as if it has the intent to try to purchase eBay despite the latter being worth almost 4 times more than the former. This would be like if a guy went and tried picking a fight with someone nearly 4 times their size/strength/etc. It is illogical and reeks of Gamestop either trying to boost its stock price (more on this shortly) through seemingly impossible "Plans," or perhaps, like the tiny man trying to get into fisticuffs with the bigger fellow, GameStop, somehow, thinks it has something up its sleeve? Another company/country/whatever willing to put up funds for such an absurd proposal? I don't really see any reality where this even happens. Other people and I also definitely don't see any reality where such an acquisition would end well. 

The horrible concept of Gamestop buying eBay hasn't stopped GameStop from claiming it has the wherewithal to offer, "eBay’s board...$125 a share, a massive premium over the stock’s recent average price of around $90 a share. According to Cohen, the deal will be half cash, half stock, with up to $20 billion in financing on the table from TD Securities. GameStop had $9.4 billion in cash and 'liquid investments,' as of January 31, 2026, which presumably includes the company’s large purchases of Bitcoin after closing more stores. And of course, as part of the deal, Cohen will become CEO of the new joint GameStop/eBay entity, paid only based on the future performance of its stock." GameStop has delusions of rivaling Amazon, but GameStop's stock took a hit today from how dumb this all is. eBay has confirmed they received the unsolicited offer in much the same way I would, "Confirm," getting a spam email. More on this madness as it develops.

Starting May 2026 Off With a ToyMan Show!

Today was the first Sunday of May, and it was extra special thanks to there being a ToyMan show! Upon my arrival early in the morning, I was pleased to see the show was chock-full of goodness as usual. If my posts about the ToyMan show were to ever only get one thing across, the fact that the show is stuffed to the gills with awesome items needs to be driven home! Toys, comics, diecast cars, trading cards, records, magazines, Funko Pops, and everything in between are always at ToyMan, and one can spend the whole show taking in the mix of cool accoutrements. 

A picture of right before the doors opened, and folks came onto the show floor!

I began my time at the show by saying hello to my great friends Spike of Lost in Space Toys and Collectibles, as well as Tim Metzger. I proceeded to have a chance to chat with Brian Lan and Shane Lodi about how they had been doing, and enjoyed seeing them. My delightful chum, Jack Thomas, of Fortress Comics, was present and had a huge assortment of intriguing comics as well. As I proceeded to walk around the show, I had the pleasure of seeing Cayden of Tri Fox Shoppe and bought a really cool Sonic-themed sticker from him! Check it out:

As I continued browsing around ToyMan, I interacted with my friend Jessica Mathews and was excited to hear about a new book she has coming out soon--I plan to buy a copy and will discuss it more in the future once it is released! The Tatertot crew was there with neat wares, and my friend Tom was selling cool shirts at the show, too, and I spotted celebrity guest Brad Kesten (known for a variety of voice-over work) meeting with fans and excitedly chatting with folks as well! It was a superb show, as always, and I eagerly look forward to the next Toyman on July 12th if I'm able to attend--that also happens to be Gibson's birthday, so we'll see how busy things are!