Tomorrow's newsletter's in the send queue and I've returned to Fiction(s) land.
KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT (DeMatteis / Zeck, 1987)
(*****+ / *****): Hate to admit it, but this isn't a re-read: a cardinal sin – nevermind KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT's hallowed status, but (for me) that it's penned by one of my favorite Spidey writers (and comics writers in general; I have a soft spot for his run on THE SPECTRE, featuring Hal Jordan on his post-Parallax road to redemption), JM DeMatteis, under the moody, evocative pencil of genius Mike Zeck makes it even more so. That said, HUNT deserves every bit of its hallowed status: though I knew the main points of the story and the surprise at the end of part five, it still came as a shock. A case study in why I'm devoted to getting the "Great" comics stories in their original single issues: to experience it for the first time largely as it was originally released was something special.
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, S5 (2024)
(*** / *****): Greatest feat this season managed to pull off was to give me reason to miss the characters (whom I've loved for the entirety of the run – up until this season) like I had hoped to when I learned that this was to be the final season. The first six episodes, with a few exceptions (anytime Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner was onscreen – can't think of a late series addition that added so much) were rough, to say the least – and it was clear that no one knew this was the end (which they didn't, apparently, until after filming was complete). While the Breen were great – when they finally popped up as antagonists – Mol and Lock weren't the most fear-inspiring antagonists, though Eve Harlow was as excellent here as she was in a similar role in THE NIGHT AGENT (just cast her as Harley Quinn, Gunn): for the power to create life, the antagonistic stakes were far too low for 2/3 of the season. Fortunately, the last few episodes did remind me why I liked this crew so much, upped the stakes to appropriate levels and gave each (save the inexplicably vanished Kayla) a moment to shine, especially Adira, the inimitable Tilly, and Action Saru.
Also: anytime Cronenberg or Tig Notaro are onscreen is a win.
As for the post-filming "oh shit this is over, really?" coda: unnecessary but not unenjoyable. Could've ended the show at Saru's wedding, at Michael and Book walking off together, talking about the future. Not quite sure as to why Discovery (the ship, though maybe the show too) had to meet the fate it met though I suppose there are reasons that my exhaustion-addled mind couldn't compute last night. Maybe it'll come to me.
Intrigued to see where the STARFLEET ACADEMY show takes this future Trek-verse. More Cronenberg. More Notaro. More Rennie.
ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY (Teyon, 2023)
(****+ / *****): Would've been enough getting to hear Peter Weller as Robo again but that this imperfect, glitchy, buggy, repetitive, and at times maddening game (much like Robo himself: love the slowness and clunk of his movements) was so much damn fun is a bonus miracle in itself. Personality - even with stilted, copy-paste (I loved counting how many different iterations of Ulysses Washington and the Archives guy were roaming the Detroit streets - at least nine each by my latest count) NPC voice acting - and Verhovian satire and gore abounded. Is this a "great" game? Not in the slightest - but it's one of the most fun I've played in ages, rough edges, imperfections and all. In Pickles we trust.
Since eliminating all long-term projects and career ambitions and switching to little short things that I release whenever I feel like it (or they feel like it), I want to spend all day tinkering on my various explorations – but don't feel like life is getting in my way when that, inevitably, doesn’t happen. First time in more than 20 years I've experienced that; a most welcome change.