End of July 2026 News and Links

It is the last day of July. We've had quite a month for popular culture-related announcements thanks to Comic-Con International/San Diego Comic-Con being a hot spot to let folks know about your upcoming comics, movies, and so forth. A variety of interesting things were discussed or occurred, however, so let's spotlight some interesting tidbits from as of late!

To begin with, my favorite PSP (an underrated portable console) game series of all time was Lumines. In a bit of a surprise, it has finally been ported to iOS and Android, meaning your smartphone can now experience the joy of this strange music-puzzle-matching experience! "Lumines Remastered," can be bought now!

"Wonder Man," is cancelled and won't have a second season on Disney+. This is despite being a really fun show, getting rave reviews for a Marvel streaming show (a bit rare), and having a second season announced a matter of a few months ago! That said, Yahya Abdul Mateen II and Ben Kingsley were a hoot in the show as Simon Williams/Wonder Man and Trevor Slattery/the former Mandarin actor. Perhaps this is a stealthy way to fold them into a movie, one can hope? At least the star was able to not seem too sad.

A number of fly-by-night companies have those hideous AI-generated books these days where you type in some details about a child, and it spits out a, "Personalized," story you can then purchase in book form. A number of Baby Boomers apparently love these and won't stop buying them for their grandkids.

 

I wasn't particularly smitten with the first issue of the new comic, "Terminal," by Robert Kirkman, Joe Casey, and Andy Kubert. I thought it looked great, and the story had potential, but I wasn't immediately hooked. I'm in the minority for now, however, as the debut has sold 300,000 or so copies, with a second printing on the way. Kirkman might have another hit on his hands!

Speaking of Skybound/Robert Kirkman, Netflix has paid for the rights to, "The Walking Dead," franchise starting in 2027, sharing the past shows and new stuff with AMC for a cool 500 million dollars. I'd argue that while the comic and show ended with the spin-offs past their peak of popularity, there always are new fans discovering it, kind of like when Netflix scooped up, "Seinfeld," or any other popular franchise. I guess someone crunched the numbers and decided it was a wise investment.

Finally, fantastic writer John Arcudi is teaming up with Mark Buckingham on art and Dave Steward on colors for Titan Comics' "Kull," relaunch. The literary predecessory/blueprint for Conan the Barbarian, it could be interesting to see what this creative team does with the material!

Film Friday: "Candyman," the 2021 Version

I have vague memories of seeing the first, "Candyman," movie with the stellar Tony Todd (he's back in the new one too). I recall it being terrifying and really good, but as it was a long time ago when I went to see the latest kinda-sequel/kinda-reenvisioning of, "Candyman," it was a bit like I was going in fresh. How was this newest, "Candyman," you ask? Well, it is pretty awesome in the first two acts of its relatively short 1 hour and 30-ish minute runtime. Then in the last 20 minutes it just kind of falls apart, a trend with a lot of modern horror movies.

This movie focuses on the legend of a man who kills you if you say his name five times. When an artist (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy) learns about this terrifying character he finds himself obsessed with the legend of the Candyman, especially as bodies start to pile up as his artistic depictions of him garner more attention. Anthony's girlfriend (Teyonah Parris as Brianna Cartwright) tries to be supportive even as it becomes increasingly clear things are wrong and she has to deal with her own traumas. As Anthony slowly finds his own body starting to fall apart (there is some real body horror elements in this that are gross) things just get crazier and scarier. Then the movie kind of throws its hands in the air and gives up.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is amazing as an artist haunted by the legend of the Candyman.

"Candyman," is loaded with amazing performances from a fantastic cast and Director Nia DaCosta keeps everything appropriately eerie and moody throughout. Those last 20 minutes though are like eating a delicious multi-layer pie and then after you've gotten through all these amazing flavors you reach the bottom and discover the crust is cardboard--as if the chef just gave-up at the end. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is basically one of those, "Oh, it turns out ____ was the villain all along despite all logic," type moments. Until then, though, it is really good!

At its brisk runtime, I actually wish, "Candyman," were longer and could have fleshed some of its ideas out more. It touches on so much. It discusses concepts of racism, classism, gentrification, and manages to be scary while also being quite deep about a lot of human and social issues. As I also mentioned, the acting is fantastic with Abdul-Mateen II and Parris both stealing the show. Also, as a big fan of Vanessa Williams, I really wish we could have had more of her (she reprises her 1992-version character). I guess it is both a compliment and an issue that, "Candyman," left me wanting more? More explorations of its themes, more scary moments, and more of an ending than what we got. As it is, "Candyman," a film loaded with potential that it occasionally realizes. I just wish it didn't peter out so bad at the end.

3 out of 5 stars.