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Almost Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror-drama adventure about triumph, growth, and the resiliency of the human spirit. With their cinematic comic book series which depicts vicious and visceral events in a raw yet beautiful way, Galaxy has redefined the genre and nearly invented one of their own. Infusing the perilous and unexpectedly exciting journey with absolute horror and an attention to detail that’s rooted in and dedicated to realism, the creator and writers have established a nexus point between exhilaration and terror.

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INSIDE OUR UNIVERSE

By Galaxy

Hello readers, both old and new! Welcome to our very special SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER Edition of SPO!LER magazine!

2023 is halfway over, and we are excited to end the first half of the year bringing YOU everything you need to know about the movies you have, can, and will see this summer. The weather isn’t the only thing that’s hot!

Check out detailed articles covering summer blockbusters like Barbie, Oppenheimer, Gran Turismo, and more. We are dedicated to bringing you all the information you need to re-live seeing these movies and get you as excited as we are for the ones to come. Be it the new additions to popular franchises such as Expendables 4 or The Equalizer 3 - or new original movies including the family-oriented Elemental and adult comedy Strays, you’ll find many articles detailing all the need-to-knows so you can rush over to your local theatre feeling excited and confident about what you’re going to see.

As always, we appreciate you spending your time with us and thank you for your eagerness to flip through these pages so lovingly brought to you by our amazing writing team. Fandom would not exist without community and being a part of that community is something we hold in the highest regard.

We hope the second half of your 2023 is filled with prosperity, good health, and the enjoyment of the very things that make you a true fan! We appreciate your loyalty and, most importantly, your fandom. Happy Summer Blockbuster Viewings, everyone!

Have fun and stay safe!

Love You All…

Galaxy

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“Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening”

- Galaxy

BY MATTHEW TIMPANELLI

HAVE YOU EVER

gotten a bit of grief from your parents when you came home from school and made a b-line to your favorite console to spend hours of homework-procrastinating fun playing video games? Have your teachers looked at you cross-eyed when they find out that you spent all weekend hunting checkpoints on the expert level track on the latest driving simulator? If you are anything like me, this was a common occurrence. Back then my mom used to say I was in La La Land because I was hard to communicate with once I had a controller in my hand. My dad would have to sit me down at the kitchen table and discuss priorities while he bit his cheek trying to hold back his disappointment in me. I didn’t have any argument to defend myself and no reference to show that playing video games can be a fruitful and worthwhile endeavor.

My parents have come quite a long way in accepting and understanding the importance of video games. My mom eventually was able to distinguish a Nintendo Entertainment System from a Sony Playstation and I was able to convince them that playing video games was fun, educational, and often purposeful as I have used much of what I learned from games in my

own professional career in designing experiences. But Gran Turismo, one of the most popular car racing games today, had been working on proving this point since Lucas Ordóñez won the first GT Academy competition in 2008.

In 1997, Polyphony Digital and Kazunori Yamauchi created a video game like no other in its class. Sure there were other racing games before like “The Need for Speed” in 1994 on the 3DO system, Sega’s “Daytona USA” or “Ridge Racer” which was also on Playstation. But something about Gran Turismo placed it in a league of its own, especially as the franchise continued to evolve and refine its gameplay over the years. Gran Turismo included

something that resonated with gamers, who enjoyed not only simulated racing, but those who also collected licensed IP products. The realism was actually what made this game stand out and the amount of high quality game add-ons and unlockable items made the game addictive to both gamers and car enthusiasts. The game gives players a sense of achievement, as they test their skills against other players in a safe place without the risk of performing on an actual track, travelling at mind boggling speeds in a hunk of metal.

In the documentary, Kaz: The Virtual Divide we can learn that the creators were dedicated to understanding all the aspects of racing to architect a close to perfect recreation of the experience. It was the dedication to replicating the feeling of driving that interested Kazunori, and his work paid off as it is proven that players can take what they learned from playing the simulation into the real world. This was the case with Lucas Ordóñez in 2008 when he won the GT Academy competition and was rewarded by driving for Nissan at the GT4 European Cup and in 2011 as the famous Le Mans 24 Hour race, where he and his team earned a podium spot, coming in second. Kazunori and others proved that video games can properly train drivers enough to prepare them for the real thing. It may have not been as surprising for Kaz himself who has stated in the aforementioned documentary that he learned to drive race cars by playing his game. The GT movement, as Kaz describes, was something he had intended to create with Gran Turismo. Early on, he imagined that the game could achieve these far fetched goals and as GT Academy produced

professional race car drivers, a dream of his became a reality.

Perhaps this is not so surprising of a feat today. Video game systems can now simulate much of our real life so well that it is hard to tell the difference on a 65inch high definition screen. The attention to detail on the aesthetics of the game are clearly apparent and have influenced car culture, as many who grew up playing these games would later be car consumers, mechanics, and even race car drivers. However, this is only one of the reasons for the quality of the experience. Kaz worked for years to develop what became Gran Turismo beginning with “Motortoon Grand Prix” which purposely had been designed to appeal to people who were used to cartoony 8 bit graphics. The driving mechanics, however, were a focus early on and the work that started then made Gran Turismo so special when Kaz was able to produce something without pressure from Sony executives looking for something akin to Mario Kart. It was this passion in all the aspects of the game, like drift and the obsessive attention to detail, in each iteration that has brought us to the place where a fully immersive AR/VR experience could be simulated flawlessly, not only visually, but at its core. This shows how impressive Gran Turismo was; it was realistic enough for young gamers to use this effectively as a learning tool more than a decade ago when we did not have adequate technology to fully simulate driving. In the upcoming movie Gran Turismo, starring

Archie Madekwe as Jann Mardenborough–a young man who won GT Academy competition in 2011 at the age of 20– there is much focus on how people denied the possibility of a simulation to properly train someone in such a complex task, especially at the level of a professional. However, the academy has proven time and time again that it can produce drivers who are fit to stand beside other racing stars on the podium of Le Mans, as many of these GT Academy graduates have done. Jann’s story is not all success and checkered flags though. He has had to fight through the guilt of a failure that resulted in tragedy when he crashed on his favorite course Nürburgring in Germany, which killed a spectator. Jann, despite the setback, acted like a true professional when he returned to the track a

week later. While the movie may not be representing a perfect scenario, it represents a true depiction of what an average racer’s journey is like. This makes perfect sense for Gran Turismo who painstakingly made sure to create a game experience as close as possible to reality.

According to gtplanet, Kazunori Yamauchi shared some of the motives for the creation of this movie.

Image provided courtesy of Sony Pictures / Empire Magazine / imdb.com

During a roundtable interview he states, “It(the movie) will definitely be an opportunity for those people who aren’t interested in cars to find out about Gran Turismo”. The movie has some big stars like Orlando Bloom who plays Danny Moore (based on the GT Academy founder Danny Cox), David Harbour as Jann’s trainer Jack Slater, Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) as Jann’s mother, and Djimon Honsou as Jann’s father. The cast should be able to draw some general fans of drama and fans of video games and cars can enjoy some fantastic action and cinematography as the movie looks to be as beautifully done as the game that inspired it. All these things combined with a fantastic story about what drives us to beat the odds in the face of mass criticism should pay off for Sony and movie goers alike. The motion picture may not focus on the dedication to the craft that makes the game so unique, but it signifies a massive shift in our society as more movies are made from video games bringing additional spotlight to the importance of the medium as a whole, and to show how video games have become intertwined with many institutions as it continues to expand.

Race car driving isn’t the only area where video games have been used to train people. The Army Game Studio created the America’s Army video game which was created to help aid in U.S. Army recruitment. The U.S. government may have taken some inspiration from GT Academy here when they realized that FPS (First Person Shooter)

games could be a good way to find and garner interest in using some of those virtual skills to help defend their country. Similarly, the Army Game Studio had also worked with NASA to create Moonbase Alpha, which was meant to encourage interest in space exploration, according to Nasa.gov. I expect more games to be used in this way and perhaps at some point could replace the need for the transition to a real life profession, as e-sports competitions are growing in popularity and recognition. Reuters states, “BLAST and Fortnite are teaming for a third straight year to hold the 2023 Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS), with players competing for a combined prize pool of $10 million.” This isn’t even the largest prize pool expected this year (2023) and we can expect this to

continue to rise as brands will look to take advantage of this popular trend. The Sony movie should also help push this forward, as well as giving further validation that gamers have skills that are on par if not better than your average sports star. I just hope my parents are ready to eat some humble pie when they go to see this movie which marks a major blurring of the virtual divide. It is a bit late for me to

Image provided courtesy of Sony Pictures / Empire Magazine / imdb.com

become an esports to reallife sports star but you can bet that I will be cheering them on from my couch while I’m trying to earn some extra cash grinding out some other game offering some sort of reward. I hope to see more institutions like GT Academy form after accepting the undeniable truth that video gaming is an opportunity that shouldn’t be squandered or squashed because of the stereotypical criticisms of the industry and the gamers themselves. I expect Gran Turismo to be mentioned on many occasions by young aspiring esports players convincing their loved ones to support them as they want to purchase the latest game like Gran Turismo, enter an international esports competition, or dedicate their life toward a virtual profession.

BY ROB LOCKETT

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S BIOPIC ABOUT THE

controversial ‘father of the atomic bomb’, J Robert Oppenheimer, has burst into cinemas worldwide this summer. After the lukewarm release of Tenet in the middle of the pandemic, Oppenheimer is already being hailed as a return to form for cinema’s modern auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

To view Oppenheimer for many is a sip of the poisoned chalice of history’s past and can be a cautionary tale about the dangers of discovery. For others, it’s an exploration into one of history’s most influential people, and a glimpse into America post World War II. In this article we will view some important details such as the main story of the film, the cast, as well as the man who was Oppenheimer and the significance of this much maligned character in 2023.

Centred at the forefront of this dense and intricate biopic, is the enigmatic J Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the Manhattan project in the development of the atomic bomb. Born in United states

New Jersey in 1904 to German Jewish immigrants, Julius Robert Oppenheimer studied chemistry at Harvard University, and after graduating in the summer of 1925, set sail for England and found a home in the Cavendish laboratory, studying physics at the University of Cambridge and University of Göttingen, where he received his PhD in 1927. It was during this time period that Oppenheimer made significant contributions to theoretical physics, including quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.

During WWII he was hired by the US government to lead the Manhattan Project, the team tasked with creating the atomic bomb for the US government in an arms race against Nazi Germany. This forms the catalyst for the ticking clock scenario the team of

scientists faced in building the atomic bomb.

After a detailed sequence showing the intricate planning, research and experimentation of the Manhattan project, the film shows the first atomic explosion at their test facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

After the success of the test at New Mexico, codenamed Trinity, The US government approved in 1945 the atomic bombs created under the Manhattan project to be used on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

killing around 200,000 people, and subsequently bringing an end to the war in the Pacific.

The test scene is the climactic event in the middle of the movie, and its where we see the shocking but evocative imagery of the trinity bomb setting the horizon ablaze, with the members of the Manhattan project observing in a mix of awe and terror. The scene shows the devastating power of their creation at a

test facility located south of Los Alamos, New Mexico. It is here that Nolan’s stylistic use of iMax camerawork shows the full devastation of the device that in reality produced an 18.6 kiloton blast that could be seen for hundreds of miles away. The third act of the film centres on the senate and various courtroom hearings that showcased Oppenheimer’s fall from grace in the McCarthy era. In a period often compared to the Salem Witch hunts; Oppenheimer’s career and public life cascaded very quickly under the scrutiny of his past connections with the Communist Party, which led to the US government separating their business

with Oppenheimer and his eventual social exile and fall into obscurity.

On December 21, 1953, Oppenheimer was alerted of a military security report that was critical of him and accused the man of having loyalties and fraternisations with communists in the past, and made further accusations such as delaying the naming of Soviet agents, and of opposing the building of the hydrogen bomb

The next year, a security hearing declared him not guilty of treason but ruled that he should no longer have access to any military secrets. As a result, his contract as advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission was terminated. The Federation of American Scientists instantly came to his defence and vehemently protested the trial.

Oppenheimer was created as the international symbol of the scientist who, while trying to resolve the moral problems that arise from

Image provided courtesy of Universal Pictures

scientific discovery, becomes the target and subsequent victim of a witch hunt. He spent the final years of his life considering the consequence of this era and working out ideas on the relationship between science and society.

THE CAST

Oppenheimer has an (inter) stellar cast, featuring one of the best ensembles in recent years including: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich and Rami Malek to name but a few, delivering a masterclass in dramatic performance throughout the film.

But none of this overshadows the A-list performance by Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders, 28 Days Later) who has risen to prominence throughout Nolan’s portfolio. Murphy transcends the part of Oppenheimer, taking great lengths to not only physically epitomise the man through his significant weight loss in his preparation for the role, but exploring the Machiavellian depths of a tortured soul perplexed by what they felt was a just cause in the race to defeat Germany, and simultaneously trying to justify the mass murder of thousands of innocent civilians in the pursuit of that cause.

Cillian Murphy first rose to Hollywood fame in Danny Boyle’s epic apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later, soon rising to prominence in a host of Nolan films including the Dark Knight Trilogy as the terrifying Scarecrow ,and playing supporting roles in films such as Inception and Dunkirk. Throughout his film career he has garnered critical acclaim

for his performances, though to date, it is his work as the notorious Tommy Shelby on Peaky Blinders that he is most remembered for. Most critics will expect at least an Oscars nomination for his work on Oppenheimer.

Emily Blunt plays Kitty Oppenheimer, a rock of support who stood by Oppenheimer through many trials and tribulations.

Born Katherine Puening on 8th August 1910 in Recklinghausen, Germany, into a noble family, Kitty and her family moved to America when she was two years old. Kitty Puening entered university a number of times in the early 1930s, but withdrew and married her first husband Frank Ramseyer in 1932. However, the marriage ended quickly and Kitty received an annulment from the state of Wisconsin only 12 months later.

Kitty’s second marriage was to a young man named Joe Dallet in 1934, who was also an avid supporter of Communism. The couple moved to France, and Dallet

joined the Communist forces fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He was unfortunately killed in combat three years after they were married, which inspired Kitty to return to America and pursue a degree in botany at the University of Pennsylvania, which she graduated in 1939.

She met Oppenheimer that same year – while unfortunately married at the same time to her third husband, a British doctor named Richard Harrison. Despite this setback, Kitty soon divorced her husband and married J Robert Oppenheimer on November 1st, 1940.

Kitty also played an important role as confidante for her husband, as Oppenheimer trusted his wife and often sought her advice on a host of issues facing the Manhattan Project. Unfortunately, this came under scrutiny at the security hearing in 1954, where Kitty’s chequered past became an important consideration. She had been questioned and surveyed by security at Los Alamos and was the clearest link between her husband and Communism.

The couple also had two children, named Peter and Toni.

In the years following Oppenheimer’s fall from the public eye, Kitty cared for Robert’s waning health issues, eventually passing away from lung cancer in early 1962. Blunt has also garnered critical acclaim throughout

her film career, with a similarly versatile range of roles much like her male counterparts in the ensemble. Some of her most memorable roles have been viewed in blockbuster films such as A Quiet Place, Edge of Tomorrow and Sicario.

She is already receiving high praise for her work as Kitty Oppenheimer and it would sound alarm bells if she was not nominated for some of the industry’s most prestigious awards for her contribution to the film. As mentioned earlier, the ensemble cast members play out their roles with nuanced performances, with actors such as Matt Damon offering the type of bravado needed when navigating the murky waters that war and scientific discovery herald.

Damon plays Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan

Project and Lieutenant General in the US army, a man whose all-encompassing involvement in the making of the atomic bomb bordered on obsession. He serves almost as the antithesis of Oppenheimer, where one man is the pensive thinker and caught up in the angst of both championing a cause and suffering the consequence, Groves was a complete narcissist whose gruff, abrasive and critical demeanour forged an unforgiving reputation in both the Defence force and scientific community. The three roles summarised by these actors in no way overshadow the rest of the ensemble but are a mere glimpse into the rich tapestry of performance artwork that is a facet of Nolan’s influence as an auteur, and a home run for a director looking to represent the past with nuance and accuracy.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF OPPENHEIMER

Very few historical figures have made such an impact on modern society as J Robert Oppenheimer. Phrases like ‘the Nuclear Family’ or ‘the nuclear age’ cannot enter the new century zeitgeist without considering the impact of this man, for either good or bad. To understand the significance of a man like Oppenheimer it so recognise the duality of mankind, or the uncertain future of a western culture casting its nervous post-modernist gaze of a history forged from the building of empires, and both the positive and negative outcomes that echo from scientific discovery. This

sense of melancholy felt by Oppenheimer is epitomised in his famous quote “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Oppenheimer represents one of the great paradoxes of life, which explores the ideology of war to bring about peace, and whether the end justifies the means in relation to such horrific events as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

There is no easy answer here, only that society should continue to learn from history, or else we are doomed to repeat it. Nor can we ignore the ripple effect of the destruction caused at Los Alamo, New Mexico. The implications of this terror were not lost on Oppenheimer, in one of the pivotal scenes from film, where others were celebrating the victory of WWII, Oppenheimer told President Truman “ I feel I have blood on my hands.”

While we cannot ignore the profoundly negative impact that came with splitting the atom, we can also appreciate some of the positives. Through Oppenheimer’s endeavours and his collaboration with great minds such as Albert Einstein, he was able to champion theoretical physics, as well as provide significant contributions to research in the fields of astrophysics, nuclear physics, spectroscopy and quantum field theory. Splitting the atom has also yielded important advancements in Nuclear energy and alternatives to fossil fuels.

Oppenheimer is also a glimpse of post WWII

America, a rising superpower embroiled in a cold war with Russia, where the growing paranoia of Communist ideology was widespread by the 1950s and people like Douglas Macarthur were establishing their own political ‘witch-hunts’ to depose anyone they felt was a threat to their way of life. Oppenheimer was another victim of this era, and though he has denied ever being a communist, was targeted due to his loose affiliations to the communist party through Jean Tatlock and for his employment of former students who were known members of the Communist Party. The official trial was known as the Security Hearing of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and though no particular crimes were committed or lives lost, the result was still devastating to a man like Oppenheimer, who lost his security clearance and the trust of the American Government. While McCarthy spearheaded the whole event, a man named Lewis Straus, (played by Robert Downey Jr) was Oppenheimer’s main nemesis and was victorious in arousing enough suspicion of Oppenheimer that led to his security clearance being removed.

These are just mere glimpses into the man who was Oppenheimer and the groundswell of entertainment that has become Nolan’s latest crowning glory. For those considering Barbenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic of America’s fallen hero should be strongly considered in your summer viewing.

BY ROB LOCKETT

THE MOST FAMOUS PORTMANTEAU OF 2023,

(and no, we’re not talking about a suitcase) is the term Barbenheimer, the latest countermarketing move to simultaneously promote two unlikely films together, which has grown into a media juggernaut over the last few weeks. If you’d like to read the Oppenheimer article, see the headline under Oppenheimer: Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Auteur or alternatively, read below our deep dive into an alternate cultural influence; the whimsical and satirical exploration of Barbiethe toy and Barbie: the film. Or, take option 3: read both, and gain insight into Spoiler’s own exploration of Barbenheimer.

WHAT/WHO IS BARBIE?

To those who are completely oblivious to the cultural phenomenon known as Barbie, here’s a few broad strokes to get you up to speed:

Barbie (full name Barbara Millicent Roberts) is a tall plastic toy released by the Mattel toy company on March 9th, 1959 as part of the American Toy Fair in New York City. Toy buyers were initially sceptical because the toy resembled nothing they had previously seen before in children’s toys. But oh, how they were wrong, and Barbie quickly took the world by storm with over 300,000 sold in the first year of production.

From there, Barbie would go on to become one of the most iconic figurines of our lifetime, even making its way into Andy Warhol’s pop-cultural gaze.

Barbie was the creation of Ruth Handler, the co-founder of the Mattel

Company (along with her husband Elliot). After observing her own children playing with make-believe paper doll incarnations of adult women, Ruth was quickly inspired to create a toy that younger girls would love and thereby filling an untested niche in the market.

Barbie’s appearance was inspired by a doll named Bild Lilli, a German toy modelled after a popular German comic strip character (though initially this was designed as a racy novelty gift that men could buy in tobacco shops).

Despite the initial novelty and non-seriousness of its

insertion into the market, the doll soon became very popular with children and Mattel quickly snapped up the rights to the figure and inspired by the initial design, produced their new creation, and, the rest they say, is history.

Barbie has gone on to sell over 1 billion dolls across 150 countries in the world and has been a

figure of either popularity or notoriety as various iterations of the doll have spanned the decades since its conception.

One of the positives for Barbie is her very broad resume, and she is celebrated for her proactive role in the workforce, having boasted more than 250 careers with some of the highlights

including: an astronaut, doctor, palaeontologist, computer engineer and astrophysicist.

Positive reception of Barbie has been aimed at her career progression, especially in an age where women had few career options (she was an astronaut before Neil Armstrong), and has served as a symbol for

female empowerment and self-expression, extolling virtues of determination and individuality with young women throughout the decades.

The main criticisms of Barbie over the generations include negative body image and a lack of diversity, though in recent decades Mattel has attempted to resolve this by including a more diverse range of Barbie dolls, including the first African American Barbie doll and Hispanic barbie doll featured in 1980. Body image is still a problem, however, and despite a release of different ‘shaped’ Barbies, many young girls have held the image of

Barbie as ideology that the ultrathin is the ideal shape, which has had profound negative effects on image and idealisation of what is the ‘ideal body type’.

In 2023, the journey to bring Barbie to Hollywood had finally been complete, with Warner Bros. studios making the announcement that they were producing the story of one of histories most famous of children’s toys with a film directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by Noah Boambach.

The Greta Gerwig project is stylised like any Barbie superfan’s imagination to the point of hyperbole. A bombastic soundtrack perfectly fits the

Image provided courtesy of Warner Bros Studios

Image provided courtesy of Warner Bros Studios

elaborately choreographed music numbers for the characters/dolls. The selfdeprecating dialogue pokes easy-going, introspective fun at Mattel’s products and is not afraid to make light mockery of its sense of superficiality and overt commercialism. Each scene— especially those in the setting of Barbie Land: the artificial world of the plastic society run by different life-size Barbies and their respective admiring Kens— contains highly original set pieces, mischievous references to campy cinema, and costumes of the pretty in pinkest variety.

So far, the film has opened to a staggering $162 Million opening weekend, and surpassed a number of opening milestones, as many predict the latest Warner Bros. blockbuster juggernaut will go on to make $1 billion dollars over the international box office. Already the film has accumulated almost unanimously positive reviews, with many critics and fans applauding its satirical and sometimes campy post-modern gaze into the world of Barbie and how it sometimes mirrors our own contemporary society, fit with all the fatal trappings of excessive accessories. Its uniquely feminist message, a trademark of Gerwig, combined with the wry and introspective wit of Boambach’s feels like a comical and self-mocking pastiche of society’s commercialist nature, while also celebrating the issues facing contemporary women; all at the same time including some elaborate set pieces and broadway style musical numbers, that allows seasoned veterans

like Ryan Gosling to chew the scenery, while other accomplished thespians like Robbie and Ferrera deliver the heart of the story, that hopefully will open up further talking points between parents and young adults. This is combined with several pop-cultural references that subtly nod to inspirations such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Wizard of Oz and The Matrix while also employing effective use of meta theatricality in the style of The Truman Show

The plot of Barbie centres on the most famous and popular of all the Barbie dolls having an existential crisis, questioning her own morality and place in the universe, while Ken questions his subservience and lack of identity to a life other than a ringing catchphrase, fans of Brave New World would recognise as “ever since I was born, I’ve been made to serve you’. Fed- up with life as an accessory, Ken accompanies her on this personal odyssey.

In a voyage of selfdiscovery, Barbie must leave the luxury and trappings of present life in Barbie World, in all its Stepford Wives glory, and venture to our human world in order to understand who she truly is.

From here the plot evolves into further social commentary and metafiction as the characters paths diverge: At one of her coveted dance parties, Barbie is suddenly overcome with an existential crisis, deeply troubled with concerns about her mortality

The following day, she discovers she can’t complete her daily routine and quickly realises her feet have gone flat and she has cellulite. Weird Barbie, an eccentric but wise and disfigured exile,

tells her that to cure her condition, she must venture into the real world and find the child playing with her or her user ( fans of the toy story films will see the inspiration here). During this road quest, Barbie discovers Ken stowed away in her convertible, and hesitantly allows him to join her on this trip.

Upon their arrival in Venice Beach, the protagonists get up to multiple hijinks, alarming the Mattel CEO, who orders their arrest and detainment. Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween girl Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), who criticizes her for encouraging idealistic and unachievable standards of beauty.

She soon discovers that Gloria (played by America Ferrera), a Mattel employee and Sasha’s overprotective mother, is the catalyst of her existential crisis.

Gloria had began to play with Sasha’s old Barbie toys while experiencing her own existential crisis, unwittingly shifting her concerns to Mainstream Barbie. The Mattel Corp tries to put Barbie in a toy box for remanufacturing, however she escapes with Gloria and Sasha’s assistance, and the three travel to Barbieland, with the Mattel CEO (played by Will Ferrell) and other highranking corporate suits give chase.

Meanwhile, Ken learns about contemporary society’s patriarchy, and feels respected and accepted for the first time in his artificial life. Returning to Barbieland, he persuades the other Kens to overthrow the system, and the remaining Barbies are programmed into more submissive roles: such as maids, housewives, and agreeable girlfriends, winding

Disney, Lucas Film, The Mandalorian

back the clock to a more conservative age.

The final act of the film is one that paves way for more navel gazing and the importance of compromise when all other avenues seem to be exhausted. The film does an earnest job of satirising our modern conventions and making subtle social commentary on the patriarchy, feminism and gender roles, while still being an all round entertainer.

THE CAST OF BARBIE

In all their resplendent fashion and fantastic plastic is the cast of the film:

Barbie – Margot Robbie

Ken – Ryan Gosling

Gloria – America Ferreira

Sasha – Ariana Greenblatt

Mattel CEO – Will Ferrell

Margot Robbie first rose to prominence in her breakout role in the Wolf of Wall Street and has continued to show her acting chops in acclaimed films such as I, Tonya and her iconic portrayal of DC favourite Harley Quinn. Her role as the Stereotypical Barbie is already receiving high praise from both critics and fans alike. Robbie appears right at home toeing the line between satire and taking a deep dive into some of the more pressing issues that a female protagonist faces in contemporary society and shining in a role she was born to play.

Ryan Gosling is also another Hollywood favourite in films such as Blade Runner 2049, The Notebook and Drive, to name but a few of his highly diverse portfolio. His whimsical take on the subservient Ken has already started to garner critical acclaim, navigating between hilarity and the mockery of the patriarchy. Gosling also shines in the role, and making the most out of his dialogue, which reaches epic, Alan Rickman like levels of vaudevillian villainy.

Ken’s fatal flaw throughout most of the film is his ego, and a misplaced sense of identity, so that when Ken emerges into the real world, and a place where the patriarchy is in complete control, he feels surprisingly comfortable and powerful. It’s a less than subtle mirror of modern society, showcasing some of the worst elements of toxic masculinity and privilege.

This has a profound effect on Ken, whom returns back to the Barbie World to reinstate this type of control over the other Barbies and subverting the matriarchy with a new world order. There is a redemption arc for Ken/ Kens in the final act in the film, and delivered with a pointed edge at the audience through which Gerwig and Boambach gleefully espouse their overt, but timely message.

America Ferreira first caught the public eye playing the titular role in the hilarious television series Ugly Betty, before taking on more comedic roles in Superstore and

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Her iconic take on the character of Gloria in Barbie is the true heart and soul of the film, exploring some of the key existential issues young women are facing, not only in America, but the world over. In a world of plastic and commercial superficiality, Gloria is the most real and down to earth character, and in a key monologue speaks from the heart of the challenges faced by many women like her.

With the support of characters like Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other discontinued dolls, Gloria delivers her key message to all Barbies that empowers them and unlocks them from their place of subservience under Ken’s autocratic rule.

Will Ferrell also stars in Barbie Famous for roles such as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman, the ever-positive character of Buddy in Elf, Detective Gamble in The Other Guys, Ferrel is no stranger to comedy and self-deprecation. He almost reprises his role as Lord Business in The Lego Movie, playing an insensitive and eccentric Mattel CEO whose drive and ambition play into the satirical tone of the film.

While the film is not aimed at young children like the trailers may have made audiences think, the Barbie film is a welcome addition into the pop-culture phenomenon that is Barbie, complete with satire, introspection, some heart and a fully accessorised wardrobe.

Disney, Lucas Film, The Mandalorian, PBS, Twinji-Tech

Image provided courtesy of Warner Bros Studios

BY TYSON D. POWELL

FOLLOWING UP THE AMAZING INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

was always going to be a difficult task for Sony Pictures Animation, but they absolutely managed to knock it out of the park with Across the SpiderVerse, the long anticipated sequel to Miles Morales story as Spider-Man, as well as that of his best friend and potential love interest in Gwen Stacy. The movie is phenomenal as it follows Miles’ journeys across the various alternate universes with his fellow spider-themed heroes in an effort to stop the villainous Spot, a former Alchemax scientist who gained the ability to create portals after an experiment had gone wrong. As his power increases over the course of the movie, the stakes are raised higher and higher for Miles and his friends, building to an epic conclusion that couldn’t just be contained in one movie So as we wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse,

there’s a great opportunity to learn more about the principal members of this movie’s own cast!

Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) is the Spider-Man of Earth-1610, taking over after the Peter Parker of his world died saving him. After an adventure with various other Spider-people from across the multiverse and mentorship from the Peter Parker Earth-616, Miles has been the primary SpiderMan on his planet for a year. In that time he’s grown and matured, but still suffers the same kind of luck that all spider people have, balancing his family life, school and crime fighting at the same time. It’s not easy for him, but he has the power and the responsibility that comes with it and he’s prepared to become the hero that his city needs - even if some believe that him having said power is a mistake.

Despite having a good time being Spider-Man, Miles doesn’t really have a close relationship with anyone else in his world due to his secret identity. He longs for the friendship that he had with other heroes, where he didn’t have to hide who he was for fear of being shunned or constantly on the run from the police. Despite having a good relationship with his parents, even their relationship is on the rocks due to his constant keeping of secrets, missing events and lack of communication. And with this movie, he has to confront those aspects of his double life and those

of his supposed friends as well.

Gwen Stacy (voiced by Hailee Steinfeld) is the Spider-Woman of Earth-65. After the tragic death of her world’s Peter Parker, she’s blamed for his passing and continues to fight supervillainy while also being on the run from the police. After a heartbreaking incident causes her to leave her own dimension, she joins

up with Jessica Drew and Miguel O’Hara as part of their organization of multiversal Spider-Heroes and keeps the fabric of the multiverse intact while looking cool doing it. She takes on a far more central role in this movie’s plot, serving as the secondary protagonist and growing into her own as a strong character outside of Miles’ own story. In the comics, Gwen Stacy hasn’t always had the best history, with her death being a motivating factor in Peter Parker’s continued heroism. She’d never really had an active voice until this alt-universe, Gwen has exploded in popularity. In this movie, she continues to stand on her own two feet and has her own motivations for heroism, and affects the plot through her own mistakes.

It stands to reason that this movie goes to great lengths to show parallels between Miles and Gwen, as both of them are shown to be sort of loners until the events of the first movie occurred and showed them that they could have friends and relationships without the need for secrets, something that both of them clearly struggle with in this movie, to different degrees. Gwen is often hurt by opening up to people and doesn’t want the same thing to happen to Miles because of how much she likes him.

Miguel O’Hara (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is the SpiderMan from Earth-928B. Shooting off of an aftercredits cameo at the end of the first Spider-Verse movie, Miguel returns with a slightly darker demeanor and far more muscle than when fans saw him last. Terrible events between the two movies have turned him into a

Image provided courtesy of Sony Pictures

man that’s willing to make the hard choices needed to save the multiverse, including allowing certain people to die if it means that the universes continue to live through so-called “Canon Events.” He leads the Spider-Society and coordinates their missions to keep their respective universes from bleeding into one another, making sure that harmony is kept between them.

Much like his comic counterpart, Miguel’s powers don’t come from being bitten by a radioactive spider, but from a serum developed by Alchemax. Between this and the constant stress he’s under defending the multiverse, the movie presents him as having rage issues that are only exacerbated in the chase scene with Miles (that is heavily shown in the trailer). Where SpiderUK was the leader of the Spider-Society in the original Spider-Verse comic series and managed to keep a tight lid on things with a cool head, Miguel always seems to be one bad incident away from total collapse and the stress is absolutely shown through him and his dialogue.

Jessica Drew (voiced by Issa Rae) is the SpiderWoman of Earth-332. Clad in her awesome leather jacket, using motorcycle combat and doing it all while being pregnant, Jessica is one of the best breakout characters of the movie Acting as Miguel’s second in command, Jessica helps in the recruiting of Spider-Heroes and also sends other Spiders on missions of

importance. After a chance meeting with Gwen, she becomes the young SpiderWoman’s mentor and takes the chance on letting Gwen leave her world to join the Spider-Society. Her design is heavily based on the short lived, first Spider-Woman from 1974 and the 2016 SpiderWoman comic series by Dennis Hopeless, Javier Rodriguez and Andy Fish. Three years before the Jessica Drew that fans are familiar with would debut in Marvel Comics, there was a single issue where a librarian by the name of Valerie adopted the costume and moniker of Spider-Woman and saved Peter from the Vulture. This would be her only appearance in comics before Jessica’s debut, but undoubtedly the character designers for this movie took inspiration from both sources to create a version of Jess that blended the

best elements of both with a noted homage to Marvel’s oft-forgotten past. The same can be said for her reluctant mentorship of Gwen in the movie, where she originally was trying to keep Silk safe in the comics, despite not wanting anything to do with the wider SpiderVerse.

Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson) is the Spider-Man from Earth-616 and heavily hinted at being

the same one from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. After reluctantly mentoring Miles in the first SpiderVerse movie, Peter takes a step back from the action as he takes care of his adorable daughter, Mayday. Gone is the slovenly Peter Parker who was reveling in his own depression, replaced by the amazing Spider-Man who has a measure of assuredness and dotes on both his wife and daughter while also trying to keep the peace between the various Spiders.

One of the best aspects of this Peter Parker is that we get to see a progression of a character that fans have known for years. Where Peter seems to be stuck in a perpetual loop of teen/young adulthood in other media, this Peter has had all of those adventures and weathered the storms to make a life for himself and his family. The adorableness that he exudes when he’s talking about Mayday is another highlight of the movie, with him showing Miles and Gwen pictures of each and every cute moment they have together, which shows just how much of a better place he’s in since the first movie. He happily allows the other SpiderPeople to take center stage, but still maintains the sense of heroism and wit that’s allowed for him to be a mentor to the other younger Spiders like Miles, giving them a chance to be even greater heroes than he ever was.

Hobie Brown (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya) is the Spider-Man of Earth-138. Commonly known as the Spider-Punk amongst

fans, Hobie is an anarchist with a loose affiliation with the Spider-Society, often clashing with Miguel and Jessica for what he perceives to be a version of fascism as they police the Great Web of Spiders with impunity. He maintains friendships with Pavitr and Gwen, then later takes a shine to Miles as well, helping him use his powers more effectively in pivotal moments throughout the movie. Hobie is best described as a disruptor with a do-it-yourself attitude in how often his actions are in direct contrast to the maintenance of order that Miguel establishes. Hobie is an interesting case of a character in that he embodies aspects of Miles’ Uncle Aaron and Peter Parker while still maintaining his own sense of identity. Where other movies would have simply made a character like Hobie the cooler rival with constant clashing, Across the Spider-Verse uses him as an older brother type of character. He mentors Miles through sly, Palpatine-like whispers, planting the seeds of dissent in his mind well before he gets acquainted with Miguel and the rest of the Spider-Society. He likely sees the oppression that Miles will face and wants the kid to get ahead of it before Miguel and Jessica make him conform like the other Spiders that the pair have allowed to join. The way he numbers worlds is

absolutely a reference to the Misfits song “We Are 138,” and everything about his design is an ode to punk aesthetic, with mismatched bits of animation stitched throughout him, and even those different styles being animated on different frames than each other and the other Spider people in the movie. It feels chaotic, but in an incredibly fun way and apparently took three years of animation to get just right.

Pavitr Prabhakar (voiced by Karan Soni) is the Spider-Man of Earth 50101B. In his city of Mumbattan, (obviously a combination of Mumbai and Manhattan) Pavitr is one of the more fun loving Spider-Men, having not yet experienced one of the traumatic canon events that the other Spider-people have. Karan Soni brings the same kind of hilarity to his role that John Mulaney did with Spider-Ham, despite only being in the movie for about ten minutes at most. But he makes the most of his time to give one of the best and heartfelt performances. It lets people know that despite how little time we get with certain Spiders, their worlds are just as lively and real as Miles or Peter’s.

The Spot was always going to be a strange choice for the main villain of a movie, but his motivations and character arc in this film erase any doubts about him. Almost like the Michael Douglas movie Falling

Down, Spot starts off as a mild-mannered super villain, trying his best to make a meager living despite his strange appearance, who later upgrades to become a nearly unstoppable force. Over the course of the movie, many instances of disrespect change him from being just a guy wanting to get by into a multiversal threat (unlike anything comic book movie fans have ever seen).

Spot’s potential is fully realized in Across the SpiderVerse in a way that comics haven’t quite managed to capture, despite the unique-ness of his powers. There have been attempts in various Spider-Man, Daredevil and Jessica Jones stories, but the execution here is on another level and could herald a new age for Spot as an A-Tier villain for years to come if given the chance. There’s even the possibility for other lesser villains to achieve new highs if given the same treatment and creative respect that Spot has been given in this film.

Across the Spider-Verse might be in the running for one of the best superhero movies ever made, a spot that it’s first movie was already a contender for. It has something for everyone - whether thats comedy, action, and especially a ton of heart. With the sequel on the horizon, there should be no doubt that the finale of this trilogy will be a masterclass of storytelling!

INTERVIEW BY GALAXY

of people a concert, back then, with Tiesto, even later Armin. But that just didn’t exist. Tiesto was the first guy to really do it. And the 90s, y’know, It was just a different world.

SPOILER

SPOILER

So you’re Greek-born, you’re living in Belgium, and you’re a superstar DJ?

DIMITRI VEGAS

I live in Belgium, Ibiza, LA, kinda a round trip between the three.

SPOILER

What a life, you live all over the world!

DIMITRI VEGAS

Yeah we did, pre-lockdown, about 120 shows a year so you can say that.

SPOILER

Were you producing first or did you start as a DJ?

DIMITRI VEGAS

I started as a DJ first. I started DJ-ing when I was 12 years old. That was somewhere about mid-90s. Back then producing there wasn’t really even any laptop. You actually had to go to a proper recording studio and find a producer who wanted to share his very very very expensive studio with you. So I ended up stacking records at record labels to get studio time and everything. Making music was important but DJs weren’t necessarily all perceived as artists back then, lots of DJs were just DJs, but the dreams started way different. When I started DJ-ing, the biggest dream you could have was to be a DJ at one of the legendary clubs in Belgium. Maybe Ibiza, Miami. I’m not even sure Miami was already a thing then, at least not for Europe. So the whole idea of Tomorrowland, 50,000 people festival and everything, that didn’t exist. I started in a way, way different dream than it eventually evolved into.

SPOILER

So you started from the bottom and then went to the top.

DIMITRI VEGAS

I mean the top just kept climbing. I’ve been only a DJ for multi thousands

When you are at Tomorrowland, and your set comes on, the crowd goes wild. It’s amazing, your set is so different, do you plan for it a lot?

DIMITRI VEGAS

We always want to do something different. It’s just crazy how much it evolves over the years. When I started working with my brother, he was into hip hop. My brother actually ended up at the party where I was DJ-ing somewhere in the early 2000s in Ibiza. And he was mostly into hip hop. And at the end, he ended up rapping on my set. It just really resonated with the crowd. And I was like, maybe this is something. So he started coming with me to some of my shows, which weren’t that many back in the day. And we had to explain to the promoter that somebody was calling with me to talk into the mic. That also wasn’t a thing back then. So carefully that got put into the show. And you see where we ended up now and it’s complete mayhem, and you could tell that every year they could just push it a little bit further. We just always pride ourselves to have connections with the crowd and make sure everybody’s involved and just bring in a high energy set and there’s just no rules when it comes to our show.

SPOILER

You are known worldwide as a DJ and producer. Reaching #1 DJ twice, I believe, 2015 and 2019. But aside from music, are you also a mega nerd?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Yeah, actually I’ve always been a huge movie, comic book fan ever since I was a kid. Even being a comic book fan in my youth wasn’t super easy because getting American comics wasn’t that easy in the 90s. There were maybe one or two stores like that in Belgium. We had a very strong legacy of Belgium comics - Tintin and all that stuff - it’s all Belgium y’know.

We have a huge legacy of legendary Belgian comic books. But American, that was a challenge to get. So I was pretty alone in that growing up, but it gave me a lot of inspiration.

SPOILER

You have your own DLC, a version of yourself as Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat. You’ve done music for the trailer. How was the Mortal Kombat experience?

DIMITRI VEGAS

That was a dream come true, y’know. Mortal Kombat I think was one of the first video games I truly fell in love with. In the early 90s, in a small arcade somewhere in our holiday destination, we were playing Street Fighter 2 and all of a sudden there was this new cabinet they brought in. I still remember me and my brother were just blown away. This is fun, this is some crazy shit!

Fast forward almost 25 years, if not longer, to actually be an actual character in the game? That’s unreal. And it all started pretty organic. They asked us to do some music for the release. Then, I kinda pitched them the idea of, what if I used the original movie sound to create something fresh for the trailer. And in the beginning, I think they were kinda skeptical because the movie has always been their own thing.

All of a sudden I got an email saying like, let’s try it. So I jumped into that. The conversation kept going (until they were like) how would you feel about being a character in the game? So that was awesome. It was an amazing process. The only unfortunate thing was the line recording. We had to record in one day in a small studio here in Ibiza. So that was hectic, but overall it has been an amazing experience.

SPOILER

Are you really Batman in real life?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Unfortunately, no. But I did spend a ridiculous amount on a Batman costume, I can say that.

SPOILER

I did see that. That looks phenomenal. You got your family into it as well. Are they naturally into that as well or are you that guy who was like, hey, we all need to cosplay?

DIMITRI VEGAS

No, actually. Not that my wife was into all of that stuff before she met me, but the whole Halloween thing is mostly her idea. Then of course if I do it, I wanna do it well so that’s somehow where it started. It started off with going to Belgium Comic-Con called FACTS and my wife was like, why don’t we go as Game of Thrones characters? and I was like, are you serious? So then we did that and the Halloween thing. I did Batman once, I did Wolverine last year, now the challenge is what I’m gonna be this year.

SPOILER

That’s good, you’re going between DC and Marvel. Now, if you have a choice - which would you choose, DC or Marvel?

DIMITRI VEGAS

This is a tricky one. I’m not so much into the whole box thing. There’s stuff from Marvel that I absolutely prefer. When it comes to DC, I have to be honest, Batman is way up there. For me, if I really gotta choose, it’s between SpiderMan or Batman. You could say it’s kinda generic but those were my two big heroes growing up. It’s a hard choice for me. Like, recently in an interview they asked me to pick. For me it kinda depends what kind of mood you’re in. I also used to read a lot of Spawn, so I couldn’t really choose between the two.

I’m also close friends with Michael Uslan and David Uslan, so they’re gonna be pissed off. I also know the people behind the Spider-Man movies so, it’s really tricky.

SPOILER

You can love both DC and Marvel.

DIMITRI VEGAS

I think Marvel, arguably in the movie verse, they do better so far. But who could’ve known, if you told anybody in the early ‘90s that the whole world would be lining up to see Iron Man, Captain America, and Avengers movies over the iconic DC heroes, I think people wouldn’t believe you. You have to be honest, what they did was a unique thing, it was unpredictable. With music, similar stuff happens. Sometimes, it’s just the perfect storm and being first with something. Look at

Tomorrowland. It got global recognition because of the actions that we did. We had to explain to people that there was this badass festival in Belgium with insane production and people were like, yeah yeah sure. And two years later people were like, oh shit I gotta go to Tomorrowland! You can’t replicate that. That exact moment in time when the algorithm in Facebook was still positive toward Youtube videos. The snowball effect of that exact moment at the time of the global rise of electronic music was just the perfect storm. And Marvel coming in at that exact time with Iron man - was it because it was

the better movie per se or was that just the perfect moment in time for that to happen?

SPOILER

Absolutely. I say this all the time, technology caught up with comic books.

DIMITRI VEGAS

In defense of DC, they (Marvel) had the luxury. The first Iron Man movie, if it didn’t work - which it did - fine, we go on. If it didn’t, they would’ve just stopped and would’ve done other stuff. And then they had a couple of sure shots, and all of a sudden people were super excited to see all of those characters together and DC was like, oh shit, we have to do the same thing. But they didn’t have the luxury of saying, OK we’re gonna plan this in over 10 years, and at that time people were already spoiled with seeing Avengers together, and so if they saw a solo Batman movie, people might be a little underwhelmed because that was what Chris Nolan’ Batman movies were. But when you throw too much stuff inside, people don’t really care about the characters. So it’s a really hard battle to win. But I think with the people onboard now at DC at the moment, there’s some great plans brewing. And I think there’s a world where they’re both equally at the top.

SPOILER

It was timing, the right moment, technology, and also patience. Marvel really set themselves up. They patiently went forward and told the story little by little. There’s more to come. Secret Wars is about to come out. There’s still lots of fans that don’t know about Secret Wars

DIMITRI VEGAS

Arguably, Marvel themselves is gonna have a hard time pleasing the fans. I don’t wanna keep

bringing back analogies from music. But we started putting tons and tons of effort into our shows - for example, in Ibiza you put on these gigantic productions and after a few years, people are getting used to gigantic productions.

Same with Marvel. We’re so spoiled by seeing the cameo and everything. So the question is if tomorrow you would do an Iron Man movie of a new character which Iron Man arguably was when his movie came out. I mean, he was not an A-list character. And people would be like, ‘I’ll watch it on streaming.’

Like the comparison between Doctor Strange and Spider-Man in Into the Spiderverse. If Doctor Strange had come first before Spider-Man, people would’ve been more hyped about the whole multiverse thing because arguably Spider-Man just gave everybody what they wanted so it’s hard to top that.

SPOILER

Absolutely right. Do you think it has to do with nostalgia?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Think with nostalgia. Nowadays people play with nostalgia with movies which are amazing. We do that in music also. But there’s also a world where a very strict bound superhero can also work. Somehow I’m always intrigued when I read these news articles of Farlane talking about wanting to do a very dark gritty Spawn movie without even showing Spawn. Like It does intrigue me, because how could you do much bigger than Infinity War. Yeah, Secret Wars, with X-Men and everything, but what are you gonna do after that?

SPOILER

I think Secret Wars would be too big. It’s like a thousand characters together. Then what do you do after that? Maybe more solo movies…

DIMITRI VEGAS

Yeah. They’ve been doing that for a

decade so it’s not impossible.

SPOILER

You’re in acting now. How’s that transition going?

DIMITRI VEGAS

It’s starting fresh at a completely different level than I am as an artist. But I really enjoy it, I enjoy being in front of the camera. It’s a real passion for me. It’s also a challenge to be at a completely different level at a different career and see how far we can get with this.

SPOILER

How does it feel being the #1 DJ in the world with millions of people following you, but then you’re on a movie set and they are like, hey go stand over there? How does that feel?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Sometimes I wait in the trailer for 8 hours or something. And I’m like, wow, if this is music I’ll be long gone. Spoiler, we literally arrive like 15 minutes before a show. Funny thing is I never had stage fright or whatever. So you could literally tell me, “Dimitri, it’s 5 minutes and there’s hundreds of thousands of people waiting, it’s go time!” It doesn’t phase me, is the right way to put it. Of course, I’m super hyped to do it but I don’t get nervous or insecure in front of the camera. All of a sudden, you feel vulnerable and fragile. It’s a spark that reminds me of my early days as a DJ and I just really enjoy working on movies.

SPOILER

Your last movie project, what was it about?

DIMITRI VEGAS

It’s actually my first lead role. It’s a Belgian movie, called Hazard. We’re premiering it on the 20th of July. The conceit of the movie is that the camera never leaves the car. It’s taking all these crazy angles but it’s never leaving the car. Nate, the main character, picks up his cousin who’s fresh out of jail who hired me to do a quick pick up job,

but it turns out to be a robbery that goes completely wrong. The viewer is with me in the car in the whole 24 hours of everything going wrong. So it gives a very claustrophobic feeling but it’s a very high octane, intense movie. The trailer is actually up on my Instagram and Youtube.

SPOILER

The movie - is it gonna be dubbed in English? Is it gonna be on any streaming platform?

DIMITRI VEGAS

First release is European and then obviously, it’s coming to America. And then I did Jurassic World recently. In the last couple of months, I did a couple of other things, among them something to do with superheroes which I cannot say anything more. I think I’ve said too much now. But it’s been exciting to slowly advance and especially, get better at the craft and learn from all these actors that I get to work with. It’s been amazing.

SPOILER

Do you sometimes feel you can give more to a role but you just need that opportunity on a bigger film project?

DIMITRI VEGAS

I think it’s for everybody, if you feel you wanna advance at something, the harder part is of course finding those opportunities and finding people to believe in you before you’re famous. Just the same as artists, to get a slot at a festival, to get an opportunity to show what you’ve got before you’re famous is always a difficult one. As I always say, management and agents, they can only do a good job after you technically don’t need them. So you know, to be in an early stage as an actor, I feel like I still have lots to prove and hopefully the next couple of movies will open more doors.

I always say persistence is key, same as an artist, same as an actor. In everything you do. I am developing comic book projects

myself, writing a couple of scripts, producing a couple of movies. Again, persistence. I had a movie signed to a studio for a couple of years and I got the news two weeks ago that after the 25th regime change they decided not to continue with the project. So we take the script and take that somewhere else. It’s just the name of the game.

SPOILER

In Jurassic World, you had a part in it. What is your part?

DIMITRI VEGAS

I’m a smuggler but I don’t wanna get into too much detail. For me that’s a dream come true. My childhood was Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future Then when I was a little bit older, I started getting into comics - Batman, SpiderMan and all that stuff. But Jurassic Park, me and my brother were obsessed with it, so it’s a dream come true.

SPOILER

Do your music fans like that you’re crossing over, or are they like, no stay in music?

DIMITRI VEGAS

No, no. I think people are very entertained and happy to see it. Of course, you get comments like,

don’t stop making music! But, I just like creating also. The comic book project, i’m so happy especially for Aliens and Dino Warrior which is progressing so so fast. I’m super grateful to Michael Uslan and David Uslan for all the mentorship around it. Eric Burnham, who has just been amazing as a co-writer. We just signed on the artist which we’re gonna announce really soon. The project is coming together so great, so I’m really looking forward to releasing the first issue at the end of the year.

SPOILER

The Dino Warriors, that’s your new comic book series?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Yup, that one. And I’m working on another project with Mark Wade also. So that’s the comic book project that I’m in. It’s just fun. I read so many comics so the story just keeps coming to me Music wise, I’ve got a new single coming next with David Guetta and Nicole Scherzinger so I am still doing music. There’s also my upcoming single with Ne-Yo. I try to combine everything, being a new dad also. So, there’s no heavy touring

but my summer schedule is pretty crazy so it’s gonna be a bit of juggling between everything but I’m definitely up for the challenge.

SPOILER

You’re a new dad. Would you allow your son to go in your footsteps to be a DJ or do you have a different plan for him?

DIMITRI VEGAS

I think he should definitely do what he feels is right. I think kids rarely follow (in) their parents’ footsteps. But if I see Michael and David Uslan, that for me is a good relationship as father and son. I think they’re so great together and you could really see that David is someone who wants to follow his dad’s legacy. You know, Michael is somebody I have a lot of respect for and someone that we have so much to thank for because without him, I don’t think we would have comic books the way they are today. This is somebody who put everything on the line because he believed there was a world where there could be a serious Batman movie. He fought for it - persistence once again - for so many years. So yeah, that is somebody that I’ll always be super thankful for.

SPOILER

Even when you perform, you are very calm. That probably carries out in everything you do, be it acting or music. Is that something you thrive in: trying to keep calm and keeping it cool?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Grounded is a good way I think. It helps that me and my brother, we became famous like… I was already in my 30s when I was really breaking through. I couldn’t imagine if I had gotten really big when I was 18 or something. I dunno.

SPOILER

I get it. It takes maturity to handle that amount of love and fame because a lot comes with it as well. If somebody wants to become the next Dimitri Vegas, what advice would you give them?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Persistence. There’s a lot of talent, people out there who never made it. Talent of course is important. As an artist you need to find why people should listen to your music, come to your show, see yourself perform as an actor, watch your movies, whatever. What’s gonna make me different from somebody else? That is one of the questions that is really important. And that can change throughout your career, but that is the first question. And if that’s something that you don’t really have an answer for, then I think you should do some searching.

But again, persistence. There’s been many moments when I thought it would never become anything. It’s those moments that you need to get through.

Persistence isn’t a guarantee of success but if you don’t have persistence, that pretty much is a sure no. The people who got world famous out of one track, that’s a handful. You might as well just fill the lottery every week.

SPOILER

The one track hit, it’s kinda like the lottery you said. That doesn’t happen that often. Normally it is a grind.

DIMITRI VEGAS

Even one world hit, even after that, it’s a grind especially if you don’t have an existing fanbase. Especially in today’s Spotify world, to follow up on a global hit is also not easy. The expectations are super high.

SPOILER Do you mind if fans watch your every move when you perform? And does it make you nervous?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Don’t really care.

SPOILER

You are awesome! Any final words to the fans?

DIMITRI VEGAS

Thank you guys for listening and hope to see you soon with more great news. Make sure to check out Dino Warriors if you’re a comic book fan. I think we’re doing something really special there. For me it’s a personal goal to have that part of pop culture history. In the next couple of years, maybe we’ll be able to enjoy Dino Warriors comics and TV shows and who knows, movies that I can enjoy with my young son.

BY CHRIS GEORGES

WELCOME, COMIC BOOK AFICIONADOS, TO THE EXCITING

world of DC Comics’ Blue Beetle! Created by the masterful minds of writer Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (better known as Charles Nicholas) and artist Stephen John Ditko, the character has donned various mantles throughout the years, each captivating fans with tales of courage, technology, and heroism. As we delve into the history of this iconic hero, explore the latest movie adaptation, and learn about the talented actor Xolo Maridueña, get ready to immerse yourself in the ever-expanding DC Cinematic Universe.

HISTORY OF THE BLUE BEETLE

The legacy of Blue Beetle in DC Comics is one of remarkable evolution and adaptation, spanning over eight decades of comic book history. As the Blue Beetle mantle passed from one hero to another, each iteration brought a unique flair to the character, contributing to a rich legacy that resonates with fans old and new.

DAN GARRETT THE GOLDEN AGE ERA

The legacy of the Blue Beetle dates back to the Golden Age of Comics. The character’s first appearance was in Mystery Men Comics #1, released by Fox Features Syndicate in August 1939. Created by Charles Nicholas and Stephen John Ditko, the original Blue Beetle was Dan Garrett, an archaeologist who discovered an ancient Egyptian artifact, (known

as Jamie) the “Blue Beetle Scarab.” With its mystical powers, the scarab granted him enhanced strength, agility, and a protective exoskeleton. Clad in a blue costume, he took on crime as the Blue Beetle, fighting against injustice and evildoers. Though Dan Garrett’s stories eventually faded from publication, his legacy paved the way for the emergence of the Silver Age version of the character. Over the years, the Blue Beetle mantle passed from one hero to another, each adding their unique touch to the character’s lore.

TED KORD THE SILVER AGE ERA

Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, made his debut in 1966 as a brilliant inventor and martial artist. Unlike his predecessor, Ted lacked the magical abilities of the scarab but compensated with his wit, intelligence, and gadgets. He became a prominent member of the Charlton Comics universe, which DC Comics later acquired.

Ted Kord’s tenure as Blue Beetle was marked by his charisma, his close friendship with the hero Booster Gold, and his detective skills. Despite lacking superpowers, Ted Kord proved that even an ordinary man could become a hero through determination and bravery.

JAIME REYES THE MODERN AGE ERA

In 2006, DC Comics introduced the third and most iconic Blue Beetle,

Jaime Reyes. A teenage resident of El Paso, Texas, Jaime accidentally bonded with the Blue Beetle Scarab, which granted him an advanced exoskeleton and various alien technologies. Jaime’s version of Blue Beetle brought a fresh perspective to the character, capturing the imaginations of readers with his youthful enthusiasm and sense of responsibility.

Jaime Reyes’ portrayal as the Blue Beetle is especially noteworthy for its cultural significance. As a MexicanAmerican hero, Jaime represents diversity and inclusivity in the superhero landscape. His background and experiences resonate with readers of various ethnicities, reflecting the growing importance of diverse representation in comic books.

ROLL THE CREDITS: ‘‘BLUE BEETLE’’ THE MOVIE

In 2023, DC Comics brings the thrilling tale of Blue Beetle to the big screen with its eponymous movie, directed by Angel Manuel Soto. The film promises to introduce audiences to a new incarnation of the hero and marks the first time Blue Beetle stars as the main protagonist in a feature film.

The storyline revolves around Jaime Reyes, a teenager from El Paso, Texas, who inadvertently stumbles upon the mystical Blue Beetle Scarab. Portrayed with charisma and depth by the talented actor Xolo Maridueña,

Jaime discovers that the alien artifact has chosen him as its next host.

Infused with advanced alien technology, Jaime Reyes transforms into the new Blue Beetle, inheriting an array of powers, including a powerful exoskeleton, energy blasts, and the ability to create various weapons.

Embracing his newfound heroic identity, Jaime takes on the responsibilities that come with being Blue Beetle: navigating the challenges of adolescence while protecting his community from emerging threats. The film promises a perfect blend of heartpounding action, family bonds, and coming-ofage themes, making it a must-watch for DC Comics enthusiasts and moviegoers alike.

XOLO MARIDUEÑA THE RISING STAR

Leading the charge in bringing Jaime Reyes to life is the charismatic and talented Xolo Maridueña. Born on June 9, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, Xolo brings a fresh and vibrant energy to the character, capturing the essence of a young hero grappling with his newfound powers and responsibilities.

Prior to his role as Blue Beetle, Xolo gained widespread acclaim for his portrayal of Miguel Diaz in the hit series Cobra Kai, which is a continuation of the beloved Karate Kid

franchise. His exceptional acting prowess, coupled with his martial arts skills in Cobra Kai, made him a natural fit to embody the dynamic and endearing Jaime Reyes.

Xolo Maridueña’s dedication to his craft and ability to connect with his characters on a deep level has earned him accolades from critics and fans alike. His presence in the Blue Beetle movie is sure to elevate the character to new heights and leave an indelible mark on the DC Cinematic Universe.

BLUE BEETLE AND THE DC CINEMATIC

UNIVERSE CONNECTION

The Blue Beetle movie has the opportunity to play a crucial role in the everexpanding DC Universe (DCU). James Gunn, DC’s Co-chair and Co-CEO, recently confirmed on Twitter that Xolo’s portrayal of Jaime, along with a few other characters, will continue in the DCU, even though the first DC Studios movie is Superman: Legacy. With Gunn and Peter Saffran leading the way, fans can be reassured that Blue Beetle will have a future beyond its initial outing.

However, one might wonder about the specifics of when and how this will happen. Gunn’s post aligns with Xolo Maridueña’s recent comments about Blue Beetle featuring several DCU cameos, further emphasizing its connection to Gunn and Safran’s revised canon. “I think if you’re a DC fan, there’s going to be more than just one character that you recognize,” he said. “I can tell you that.” Director Angel Manuel Soto also hinted at Blue Beetle’s significant position within the new DCU continuity, stating that the upcoming blockbuster is not tied to previous films but rather sets the foundation for future installments of the DCU. Furthermore, the movie’s narrative and its connection to the mystical scarab provide an opportunity to explore the cosmic and magical aspects of the DC Universe. This opens up the possibility of crossovers with other mystical heroes like Doctor Fate or the supernatural side of characters like Constantine. However, this writer personally hopes to see references to a potential Ted Kord Booster Gold connection. What say you DC? Make a few of us comic scribes audibly squeal, please?

The DCU, renowned for its iconic heroes such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, continues to expand and diversify its lineup by embracing characters from all corners of the DC Comics multiverse. The inclusion of Blue Beetle marks another step forward in creating a rich tapestry of interconnected stories that captivate audiences and pay homage to these beloved characters’ legacies. One thing is certain: as DC expands its universe of interconnected films, the addition of Blue Beetle brings a fresh and diverse perspective to the superhero genre. Jaime Reyes, as the Blue Beetle, represents a significant milestone in the representation of Latino superheroes on the big screen, breaking barriers and inspiring audiences from all walks of life.

LEGACY AND CROSSOVERS

Blue Beetle’s most notable crossovers in DC Comics have not only showcased the character’s abilities and heroism,but also explored his connections to other iconic heroes and teams. From participating in epic universe-shaking events like “Infinite Crisis” to facing personal and emotional challenges in “Heroes in Crisis,” Blue Beetle has left an indelible mark on the DC Universe, solidifying his place among

the pantheon of beloved DC superheroes. Through these crossovers, Blue Beetle has proven to be a dynamic and compelling character, resonating with fans across generations.

Notably, the friendship between Jaime Reyes and fellow teen hero, Tim Drake (Robin), showcased a powerful camaraderie that united their generation of heroes. Additionally, Jaime’s connection to the mystical side of the DC Universe allowed him to interact with characters like Doctor Fate and the Justice League Dark, bridging the gap between science and magic in the DC mythos.

BLUE BEETLE’S IMPACT ON POP CULTURE

For over eight decades, Blue Beetle has been a beloved figure in the world of comic books, leaving an indelible mark on pop culture. From his humble beginnings in the Golden Age to the modern-age heroics of Jaime Reyes, the character’s enduring legacy has resonated with fans across generations. With the highly anticipated theatrical debut of Blue Beetle slated for this August; the impact of this milestone goes beyond the silver screen, solidifying the hero’s place in pop culture at large.

One of the most significant aspects of Blue Beetle’s impact on pop culture is its contribution

to representation and diversity. Jaime Reyes, as the third and current Blue Beetle, embodies a fresh and progressive approach to superhero storytelling. As a Mexican-American teenager from El Paso, Texas, Jaime is a symbol of inclusion and representation for Latinx communities.

The representation of diverse heroes on the big screen is crucial as it offers audiences from underrepresented backgrounds a character they can relate to and see themselves in. Jaime Reyes’ character showcases the richness of his culture and experiences, breaking stereotypes and proving that heroes come from all walks of life.

Blue Beetle’s presence in pop culture, both in comics and now in a theatrical adaptation, serves as an inspiration to new generations of comic book enthusiasts.

Jaime Reyes’ relatability as a teenager juggling the complexities of adolescence and superhero duties resonates with young audiences. His journey of self-discovery, accepting responsibilities, and embracing his unique abilities is a timeless coming-of-age tale that can inspire young viewers to believe in themselves and strive for greatness.

PAVING THE WAY FOR THE DC CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

The theatrical debut of Blue Beetle is a milestone in the DCU. The inclusion of a character like Jaime Reyes signifies a commitment to diversifying the superhero landscape and acknowledging the significance of representation. It sets a precedent for introducing lesser-known yet culturally impactful heroes and enriching the DC film universe with a wide array of compelling characters. The DCU’s focus on characters like Blue Beetle highlights a departure from the traditional superhero narratives dominated by iconic figures like Batman and Superman. By showcasing heroes from diverse backgrounds and cultures, the DCU can forge connections with a broader audience, strengthening the franchise’s appeal and longevity.

Blue Beetle’s impact on pop culture is a testament to the character’s enduring appeal and cultural significance. From representing diverse backgrounds to challenging superhero stereotypes,

Blue Beetle has proven to be a character of great importance in the comic book world. The theatrical debut of Blue Beetle this August marks a milestone in the representation of diverse heroes in mainstream media and sets a precedent for the DC Cinematic Universe to embrace characters from all walks of life. As the character steps onto the silver screen, the legacy of Blue Beetle continues to inspire and resonate with fans of all ages, ensuring his place in pop culture for years to come.

CONCLUSION

The legacy of Blue Beetle in DC Comics is a testament to the character’s enduring appeal and adaptability. From the Golden Age era’s mystical hero Dan Garrett, to the Silver Age genius Ted Kord, and finally, to the modern-age representation of the Mexican-American teenager Jaime Reyes, each Blue Beetle has brought something unique and inspiring to the DC universe. Blue Beetle’s legacy not only showcases the evolution of a hero, but also serves as a reflection of the changing times and the importance of diversity and inclusivity in comic book storytelling. As the character continues to make strides in film and other media, the Blue Beetle’s legacy is sure to inspire and resonate with generations of fans to come.

Image provided courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros Studios

BY SUSHANT ALEXANDER

KNOCK... KNOCK... A VOICE ANSWERS

from the house: “No vacancies. It’s house full.”This is followed by hysterical laughter at various pitches. Another voice: “There are 999 of us here. Maybe, we have room for one more. Ha Ha Ha!!!”

“The nature of being a ghost is that they have to perform, and therefore they need an audience.” Walt-Disney

Welcome to Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Inspired by the Shipley-Lydecker House in Shipley Hill, Maryland. The original structure was built in 1803, and firmly rooted in the Victorian era. It was an instant hit to a modern day audience when it opened its doors at Disneyland Park and attracted the highest single

day attendance within two weeks of opening the park.

It was Walt Disney’s vision to make the spookiest of the rides. The scary thought occurred to Walt even before the making of Disneyland itself. He set out with his team of imagineers to realize his idea.

He shared the idea for a haunted attraction with Imagineer Ken Anderson in 1957. It started out as a walkthrough attraction, with a proposed cast of maids or butlers guiding guests through the mansion and narrating the tragic tale of a sea captain and his bride. Another added attraction was a “Museum of the Weird”, with a repertoire of strange creatures and offbeat interactive illusions.

The house remained empty for a while, giving it enough time to make it haunted in an authentic sense. The making of the Haunted Mansion’s façade began in 1962 and was finished in 1963. The

building sat empty after Disney and his Imagineers focused on the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, and stayed that way following Disney’s death in 1966. The Imagineers were grappling to make choices now that their leader was gone. Maybe the intervention of a ghost would have helped.

The Imagineers were inspired by major motion pictures. The look & feel

and the ghostly atmosphere of the attraction were heavily borrowed from the silver screen. According to Haunted Mansion experts, there were three major influences: Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version of Beauty and the BeastLa Belle et La Bete; Robert Wise’s 1963 adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting - The Haunting of Hill House; and the 1927 version of The Cat and the Canary. Ghosts were rare to find. And their houses were like no ordinary home, if not scary. This made the featured in different lands at each of the five Magic Kingdoms. In Disneyland, it’s in New Orleans Square. At Walt Disney World, it’s located in Liberty Square. It resides in Fantasyland at Tokyo Disneyland and in Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, where it’s known as Phantom Manor. At Hong Kong Disneyland, a completely different attraction known as Mystic Manor is located in Mystic Point.

Haunted Mansion special and expensive. According to an official Disneyland press release from 1969, the Haunted Mansion cost $7 million to develop and build. In today’s value, it would be approximately $45 million. Sources claimed that 999 ghosts resided in the Haunted Mansion. However, no one is sure about the number. It’s tough to round up and get a head count of the ghosts. But then the ghosts were warm and welcoming and there was always room for one more. Ghosts need spaces to perform. The more the merrier. And all ghosts have a universal appeal. No wonder then the Haunted Mansion is the only Disney attraction to be

Nothing stretches like imagination. Reassuring the guests, the ride of a lifetime. The world-famous stretching rooms introduce guests to such attractions as “Ghost Host”, which descends at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and at Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. At Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland, the ceiling rises while guests remain on the same level.

CREATING THE VOICES

It’s not just about making it scary. It’s about getting it real. The voice of the Ghost Host was provided by actor Paul Frees,  who was also the voice of Boris Badenov on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and the Disney character Professor Ludwig von Drake. The voice of the main singing bust in the graveyard scene belongs to Thurl Ravenscroft, who voiced Tony the Tiger. Madame Leota, the disembodied head inside the crystal ball, is the voice of Eleanor Audley, who also provided the voices of Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella.

EFFECTS SO SPECIAL THAT KEEP THE GHOST DANCING.

The dancing ghosts in the ballroom are created

using a theatrical effect that’s been around since the early 1800s. Called the Pepper’s Ghost illusion, it’s a relatively simple trick in which illuminated objects are reflected onto a pane of glass, making them appear translucent. It’s named after John Henry Pepper, who popularized the effect.

HORROR IS BEST HEARD ON AN ORGAN

At Disneyland, the pipe organ played by a spectral musician in the ballroom scene is the same organ used by James Mason as Captain Nemo

in Disney’s

20,000 Leagues

Under the Sea. The prop was modified for use in the Haunted Mansion. The organs used in other versions of the ride are replicas of the original.

A HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO GHOST’S NOMENCLATURE

The names of the three hitchhiking ghosts’ guests encounter at the end of the ride are Gus, Ezra, and Phineas. Gus is the short one with the ball and chain, Ezra is the tall, skeletal one

with the bowler hat, and Phineas is the one carrying the carpet bag.

PETS THAT TURN INTO GHOSTS ARE POPULAR IN STORIES

They might not end up scary. Cute, for sure. Both the Disneyland and Walt

Disney World versions of the ride have a small pet cemetery located outside the mansion. In Walt Disney World, one can see a tombstone for J. Thaddeus Toad, the hero of the park’s long-gone attraction Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

An exotic location, that is a plot in itself, firmly planted on the ground

made up for a major motion picture plan. To whip up a ‘funny or die’ concoction, Disney got some real people to look at the haunted mansion. Every draft of the Haunted Mansion film script featured a LIVE Caretaker, but was ultimately taken out in favor of a ghostly cameo appearance in the graveyard, often followed by a docile dog.

Imagineer Ken Anderson’s earliest creative treatment in 1957 featured an ill-fated bride and appeared in almost every subsequent proposed version of the Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. The initial designs of the Haunted Mansion film were set in upstate New York, with a manor house inspired by the Walt Disney World attraction. Director Rob Minkoff and Production Designer John Myhre felt the movie should feature a mansion inspired by Disneyland and moved

the otherworldly action to New Orleans to give it the ghostly atmosphere. The interiors of the Haunted Mansion had to reflect the mood. The infamous ‘eye wallpaper’ long credited to Imagineer Marc Davis, was actually a collaboration between ‘Museum of the Weird’ creator Rolly Crump and Claude Coats.

Both fans and cast members’ rich tribute to Imagineer and Master of Illusion was to make Yale Gracey as Master Gracey, the Lord of the Manor. And X Atencio’s humorous epitaph eulogizing “Master Gracey” was a toast to the Master. The Haunted Mansion movie crew decided to honor the tradition and dub the master of their house, “Gracey”.

Eddie Murphy, in search of greener pastures, stumbled upon the Haunted Mansion. He wanted to do a ghostly comedy in the vein of Bob Hope and Abbott & Costello. He was ready for the fantasy trip, and after learning about Disney’s Haunted Mansion, invoked the spirits emanating from the engaging script. This spooky flick was released in 2003.

The latest Haunted Mansion opened its doors to a worldwide audience in July, 2023. The movie is largely comical than scary; a searing gaze into death and perhaps the afterlife, but taking a non-serious lighthearted fantastical observation.

Featuring an ensemble cast played by Rosario Dawson (Gabbie) and Chase W. Dillon (Travis) her son, who realized that there are ghosts in their new home. Running out of the house is no escape. The ghosts were determined to haunt them and get them back to the house. Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, they enlist the help of LaKeith Stanfield, (Ben Matthias) who is an astrophysicist and has developed a camera to detect dark matter.

Owen Wilson who plays Father Kent, not exactly a Reverend, recruits Ben to photograph the ghosts with his high precision camera. Soon they are joined by Tiffany Haddish (Harriet), a psychic with real powers to contact the spirits who calls herself the “Medium”. Danny Devito plays a college historian and Professor who has the blue print

of the mansion, and the friendly spirit that is Jamie Lee Curtis (Madame Leota).

Only to be confronted by Jared Leto (Alistair Crump), the Hatbox Ghost. The cameos by Daniel Levy (Vic) and Winona Ryder (Pat) made the ride fun.

The principal characters – Ben, Gabbie and Travis are grieving, trying to come to terms with death. A grieving soul is vulnerable, and it is an easy passage for ghosts to enter.

DEATH AS A THEMATIC NARRATIVE CAN BE DARK

For a movie that is watchable and enjoyable for a family with young adults can be a stretch. However, making it a fantasy can be a clever decoy. Not entirely reflecting life or the afterlife, yet getting the message across.

The dancing and partying ghosts mark life and death as celebratory events, and the ghosts have a global audience to swing to.

The surreal images make the audience tread the fine line between the reality and the fantasy. Such is death, no one knows how it’s going to be. No one escapes it. And no one knows where to draw the line. Probably, there is no line. It’s hardest to fathom the unsaid goodbyes and broken promises.

Rest in Peace, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Productions / Disneyfood blog.com

BY CHRIS GEORGES

GREETINGS, FELLOW ADVENTURERS! WE ARE THRILLED TO

break down Indiana Jones’s latest entry, Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny. As the legendary archeologist and adventurer prepares to grace the silver screen once again, let’s take a dive into the rich history of this iconic character, the brilliant mind behind him, and the thrilling journey that awaits us in his latest escapade.

THE HISTORY OF INDIANA JONES

Indiana Jones, often referred to as “Indy,” is a fictional character created by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. His cinematic debut came in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and he instantly became an

enduring symbol of adventure and daring exploration. The character draws inspiration from the swashbuckling action heroes of the 1930s and ‘40s, combining the charm of a scholar with the courage of an adventurer.

Indiana Jones is a character deeply rooted in the pulp adventure and serials of the 1930s and ‘40s. The masterminds behind his creation are none other than George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The character’s inception was influenced by the duo’s love for classic adventure stories and the desire to bring back the excitement of those golden-

era films to modern audiences.

George Lucas, best known for creating the “Star Wars” franchise, conceived the character’s name and laid the groundwork for the Indiana Jones universe. He envisioned the protagonist as a rugged, daring archeologist with a penchant for thrilling adventures and a commitment to preserving historical artifacts. Lucas aimed to combine the academic world of archeology with the high-octane action of classic adventure cinema.

Steven Spielberg, the acclaimed director behind

iconic films like “Jaws” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” embraced Lucas’s concept wholeheartedly. Together, they crafted the initial script for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which would later become the blueprint for the entire Indiana Jones franchise.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) marked the first appearance of Indiana Jones on the big screen. The film was a resounding success, both critically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing

film of 1981 and earning nine Academy Award nominations. The character struck a chord with audiences, captivating them with his wit, charm, and audacious stunts.

Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Indiana Jones was nothing short of extraordinary. Ford’s effortless charisma, combined with his ability to

portray vulnerability and humor, gave life to the multifaceted character. The casting of Ford turned out to be a stroke of genius, as he embodied the perfect blend of ruggedness and sophistication, making Indiana Jones a truly iconic figure.

The success of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” prompted the creation of a franchise, and subsequent sequels followed:

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) took audiences on a prequel adventure, set a year before the events of “Raiders.” The film explored a darker and grittier side of the Indiana Jones universe, delving into themes of mysticism and human sacrifice. Despite a somewhat polarizing reception, the film remains an integral part of the franchise.

“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989) marked the triumphant return of Indiana Jones alongside his father, played by the legendary Sean Connery. The movie struck a perfect balance between action, humor, and emotional depth, uncovering the complex relationship between father and son while searching for the Holy Grail.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008) brought Indy back to the big screen after almost two decades. Set in the 1950s, the film introduced a new generation of viewers to the character and explored the realm of ancient mysteries linked to extraterrestrial beings.

Throughout the franchise, Indiana Jones has remained a symbol of adventure, courage, and intellect. His trademark

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Productions Lucasfilm

fedora, whip, leather jacket, and fear of snakes have become pop culture icons. The character’s enduring popularity has led to various adaptations, including novels, comic books, video games, and merchandise, keeping the spirit of Indiana Jones alive and thriving for generations to come.

In conclusion, the history of Indiana Jones is one of enduring legacy and timeless appeal. Created by the brilliant minds of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the character has become an integral part of cinematic history. Harrison Ford’s captivating portrayal and the thrilling adventures of Indiana Jones have captivated audiences worldwide, making him a beloved and iconic figure in the annals of cinema. With Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny fans can chalk up another unforgettable journey with their favorite adventurer.

THE UNYIELDING DRIVE OF INDIANA JONES: A RELUCTANT HERO’S QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE

Indiana Jones is not your typical action hero. Beneath the rugged exterior and fearless demeanor lies a man fueled by a profound love for knowledge and

history. At the core of his being, Indy’s unquenchable thirst for understanding the past and preserving its invaluable artifacts sets him apart from the traditional adventurers.

As an archeologist, Indiana Jones is captivated by the allure of lost civilizations and the untold stories they hold. The artifacts he seeks are not mere trinkets; they are keys to unlocking the secrets of ancient cultures, their rituals, beliefs, and achievements. For Indy, each artifact is a piece of the puzzle that forms a broader tapestry of human history.

Yet, it is not just academic curiosity that drives Indiana Jones. He bears a profound sense of responsibility for safeguarding these treasures from those who would exploit them for personal gain or, worse yet, use them as tools of destruction. Throughout his adventures, he encounters unscrupulous individuals and organizations seeking to wield ancient power for their sinister agendas.

Indiana Jones’s commitment to preservation and justice often places him

in perilous situations, forcing him to confront his fears and insecurities. Despite his reluctance, his strong moral compass compels him to act when he witnesses historical artifacts being desecrated or misused.

At times, Indy finds himself torn between his desire for adventure and his longing for a quiet academic life. He is a complex character who grapples with the consequences of his actions and the dangers he exposes himself to, yet he remains steadfast in his mission. It is this internal conflict that makes him all the more relatable and human, endearing him to audiences across generations.

Furthermore, Indiana Jones embodies the essence

of the reluctant hero archetype. He is not driven by a thirst for glory, nor riches, but by a genuine passion for history and an unyielding belief in the importance of preserving humanity’s cultural heritage. Time and again, he is pulled into worldsaving missions, compelled to take up the mantle of heroism despite his initial reservations.

It is this selflessness that defines Indiana Jones’ character and sets him apart from the typical action hero. He does not seek recognition or fame; rather, he undertakes his daring quests to ensure that the lessons of the past are not forgotten and that the legacy of ancient civilizations lives on.

Indiana Jones’s motivation is a compelling blend of intellectual curiosity, responsibility, and a deep-seated dedication to the preservation of history. His adventures take us on thrilling journeys through time and cultures, instilling in us the appreciation for the knowledge that lies buried beneath the sands of time. Indiana Jones is not just an adventurer; he is a guardian of the past, reminding us of the importance of understanding our roots and learning from the lessons of our ancestors. As long as there are mysteries to solve and artifacts to protect, Indiana Jones will continue to be a symbol of courage, intellect, and the enduring quest for knowledge.

HARRISON FORD’S ENDURING LEGACY

It is impossible to discuss Indiana Jones without mentioning the incomparable Harrison Ford. Ford’s portrayal of the whip-wielding archeologist is iconic and has left an indelible mark on pop culture. The actor’s own charisma and wit seamlessly blend with the character, making it challenging to imagine anyone else stepping into Indy’s boots.

Harrison Ford’s journey with Indiana Jones began with Raiders of the Lost Ark and continued with three more movies: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Ford’s passion for the character and his dedication to the role have been a driving force behind the enduring success of the franchise.

INDIANA JONES & THE DIAL OF DESTINY: A SYNOPSIS

In “Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny,” our intrepid adventurer finds himself entangled in an extraordinary quest that could reshape the very fabric of reality. The movie opens with Indy returning from a less-thansuccessful excavation, feeling somewhat disheartened. However, his spirits are quickly lifted when a mysterious package arrives at his office.

The package contains an ancient artifact known as the “Dial of Destiny,” an enigmatic device said to possess the power to manipulate time itself.

With such immense power at stake, sinister forces have emerged, seeking to control the dial for their nefarious purposes. Unbeknownst to them, its true purpose is even more profound - it holds the key to unlocking an ancient cosmic secret.

Joined by his trusted ally, Marcus Brody, and a resourceful new assistant, Dr. Amelia Williams, Indy embarks on a thrilling globetrotting adventure. From the bustling markets of Marrakech to the perilous jungles of South America, our hero races against time to thwart the plans of a malevolent organization, led by the cunning and ruthless art collector, Lysander Drake.

As Indy deciphers ancient texts and navigates treacherous traps, he also confronts his past and the mistakes that still haunt him. The quest for the Dial of Destiny becomes a journey of self-discovery, as Indy comes to realize that some treasures are best left untouched, for tampering with the fabric of time could have catastrophic consequences.

CONCLUSION

Finally, we will plunge into the fascinating world of Indiana Jones and explore the iconic character’s background. Indiana Jones has made an unmistakable impact on the hearts of viewers all around the world, from his

humble beginnings as the brainchild of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, to his ongoing legacy as a cherished pop culture figure.

“Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny,” holds the promise of another exhilarating and unforgettable journey. Harrison Ford, the unparalleled master of portraying the charismatic archeologist, returns to reprise his iconic role, and fans are eager to witness his magnetic performance once more. The chemistry between Ford and the character is exceptional, making it difficult to imagine anyone else donning the fedora and wielding the whip.

What sets Indiana Jones apart is not just the actionpacked stunts or the exotic locations, but the blend of intellect and brawn that he brings to the screen. Driven by a relentless desire to

uncover history’s hidden treasures and protect them from falling into the wrong hands, Indiana Jones embodies the spirit of a true adventurer. His passion for archeology, coupled with a strong sense of responsibility, makes him a complex and relatable character, despite his larger-than-life exploits.

Each Indiana Jones movie has its unique charm, taking us on thrilling escapades to discover ancient artifacts and confront both historical and supernatural forces. From the treacherous jungles of South America to the cryptic corridors of ancient temples, Indy’s quests have showcased a myriad of cultures and

Image courtesy of Walt Disney Productions Lucasfilm

myths, often intertwining history and folklore to create an engrossing narrative.

The current installment, Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny, promises to continue this tradition of excellence. With the discovery of the enigmatic Dial of Destiny, the movie

introduces a compelling and mysterious artifact that grants the power to manipulate time. As Indy embarks on this pulsepounding adventure, he not only faces formidable adversaries but also confronts his own past and inner struggles. As comic magazine editors, we are thrilled to witness this cinematic masterpiece unfold. The fusion of history, mythology, and action is a recipe for excitement, ensuring that Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny will resonate with longtime fans and captivate

new generations of moviegoers.

Beyond the silver screen, the Indiana Jones franchise has expanded its influence through various media, from novels and comic books to video games and merchandise. These adaptations have allowed fans to immerse themselves further in the world of Indiana Jones, discovering untold stories and unexplored adventures.

In the end, Indiana Jones is more than just a character; he is a symbol of adventure, resilience, and the quest for knowledge. His legacy has inspired countless explorers, historians, and dreamers to embark on their own journeys of discovery. The spirit of Indiana Jones lives on through the fascination for the unknown, the thrill of exploration, and the courage to face the challenges that lie ahead.

So, let us raise our fedoras in salute to this extraordinary adventurer. May his daring escapades continue to ignite our imagination, reminding us that there are always new mysteries to uncover and new discoveries to be made. Indiana Jones is timeless, and his adventures will forever be etched into the tapestry of cinematic history. Get ready for the ride of a lifetime as Indiana Jones once again reminds us that the pursuit of destiny knows no bounds!

BY REBECA

THE EXPENDABLES IS A FRANCHISE THAT HAS BEEN THRILLING ACTION FANS SINCE 2010, WHEN THE FIRST MOVIE WAS RELEASED.

The brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, who wrote, directed and starred in the original film, The Expendables follows a group of elite mercenaries who take on dangerous missions around the world. The movies are known for their star cast, featuring some of the biggest names in the genre, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and many more; and are known for their star-studded cast of veteran and new action heroes, their explosive stunts and their tongue-incheek humor.

The franchise has spawned three sequels so far, each one bigger and more explosive than the last. The latest installment, The Expendables 4, is set to hit theaters in 2022, and promises to deliver more of the same adrenalinepumping action that fans have come to expect. But how is this movie different from the others? And who are the new faces joining the veteran team? In this article, we will explore the

history of The Expendables franchise, and give you a sneak peek of what to expect from the fourth chapter. We will explore the history of The Expendables franchise, from its origin to its evolution. We will also discuss the new cast members and what they bring to the table. Finally, we will analyze how this movie differs from the others in terms of tone and theme. Additionally, we will reveal who is the director of this movie and what his vision is for the finale.

THE ORIGIN OF THE EXPENDABLES

The idea for The Expendables came from Sylvester Stallone, who wanted to create a homage to the classic action

Nu Image / Millennium Films / Lionsgate

movies of the 1980s and 1990s, featuring some of his old friends and colleagues. He also wanted to showcase the skills and talents of some of the newer stars in the genre, creating a bridge between generations.

Stallone pitched the concept to Avi Lerner, a producer who had worked with him on several projects before, such as Rambo and Rocky Balboa. Lerner loved the idea, and agreed to finance and distribute the film through his company, Millennium Films.

Stallone then set out to assemble his dream cast, reaching out to some of the most iconic actors in the action genre. He managed to secure

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis for cameo roles, as well as Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, and Steve Austin for supporting roles. He also cast himself as the leader of the team, Barney Ross. The plot of the first movie revolved around a covert operation to overthrow a corrupt dictator in a fictional South American country.

The first movie was a huge success at the box office, grossing over $270 million worldwide on a budget of $80 million. It also received mostly positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, who praised its nostalgic appeal, its humor, its action sequences, and its cast chemistry.

THE PAST MOVIES

The first movie introduced the core team of Barney Ross (Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews). They were joined by Mickey Rourke as Tool, a former member and tattoo artist, and Bruce Willis as Mr. Church, a mysterious CIA operative who hires them. The movie also featured cameo appearances by Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench, a rival mercenary, and David Zayas as General Garza, the dictator of a fictional South American country.

The movie was a huge success, grossing over $270 million worldwide and receiving positive reviews from critics and audiences alike. It spawned two sequels, The Expendables 2 (2012) and The Expendables 3 (2014), which expanded the cast and the scope of the missions. The second movie added Chuck Norris as Booker, a legendary lone wolf, Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean Vilain, the leader of a rival mercenary group, and Liam

Hemsworth as Billy the Kid, a young sniper. The third movie introduced Wesley Snipes as Doc, a former member who was imprisoned for tax evasion, Antonio Banderas as Galgo, a talkative and eager mercenary, Kelsey Grammer as Bonaparte, a recruiter, Mel Gibson as Conrad Stonebanks, a cofounder of the team who turned rogue, Harrison Ford as Max Drummer, a CIA agent who replaces Mr. Church, and Ronda Rousey, Kellan Lutz, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz as the new recruits.

The franchise has been praised for its homage to the classic action movies of the 1980s and 1990s, its impressive ensemble of actors who have defined the genre, its spectacular action sequences and its self-aware humor.

HOW IS THIS MOVIE DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS?

The latest installment, The Expendables 4, is set to hit the theaters in 2023. It promises to be different from the previous movies in several ways. First, it will be the final chapter of the saga, wrapping up the

story of the Expendables team. Second, it will introduce some new faces to the franchise, such as Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jacob Scipio, and Levy Tran. These actors are known for their roles in various action movies and TV shows, such as Transformers, Fast & Furious, The Raid, Power, Bad Boys for Life, and MacGyver. They will join the returning stars Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Sylvester Stallone. Third, it will have a darker and more serious tone than the previous movies, reflecting the stakes and consequences of the team’s actions.

According to some articles in specialized media, the plot of The Expendables 4 is expected to revolve around a nuclear conflict between the US and Russia. The Expendables are assigned on a mission to stop Suarto (Iko Uwais), who runs a terrorist organization, from smuggling nuclear warheads that will ignite a war between the two superpowers. Along the way, they will face betrayal, danger, and death.

The Expendables 4 is

expected to be an actionpacked thrill ride that will satisfy fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. It will also be a fitting farewell to some of the most iconic action heroes of all time.

This means that fans can expect more bloodshed, profanity, and mayhem from their favorite heroes. Second of all, it will feature a new director, Scott Waugh, who is known for his work on Need for Speed and Act of Valor. Waugh has stated that he wants to bring a fresh perspective and a more realistic style to the franchise.

The Expendables 4 is expected to be the final chapter of the franchise, as Stallone has stated that he wants to end it on a high note. However, he has also expressed interest in creating spinoffs or prequels that could explore the origins and backgrounds of some of the characters. Whether or not these projects will materialize remains to be seen.

If you are a fan of actionpacked movies with a starstudded cast, you might be excited to hear that The Expendables is back with a new installment. Waugh brings his experience in stunt work

and military realism to the franchise, giving it a fresh and gritty look. He also introduces some new elements to the story, such as a female villain and a younger generation of mercenaries.

WHO IS IN THE NEW CAST?

The movie will feature the return of most of the original cast members, like Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews, as well as some new additions. The new cast members include Megan Fox as Mickey Hennessy, a CIA agent who teams up with the team; Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Lamar Davis, a former member who betrayed them; Tony Jaa as Talon, a martial arts expert; Andy Garcia as President Westwood, the leader of the United States; Frank Grillo as Brock Mason, a rogue CIA agent; and Jason Momoa as Keegan Lee, a former Navy SEAL who is hired to kill the team.

Iko Uwais who plays Suarto, who runs a terrorist organization, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is specialist in a martial art named Silat, His grandfather, H. Achmad Bunawar, was a master of silat, an Indonesian traditional martial art, and founded a silat school. Iko himself has been learning

silat since he was 10 years old. He became National Champion in 2005 in Silat Demonstration category. Iko’s talent as a martial arts actor was discovered by Welsh film Director, Gareth Evans, who visited Iko’s Silat school for a documentary in 2007. Evans then asked Iko to quit his daytime job as a driver in a telecommunications company and join Evans’ movie production company as the leading actor in his movies. He is known for Fistful of Vegeance (2022), Snake Eyes (2021), Wu Assassins (2019), Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), The Raid 2 (2014), Man Of Tai Chi (2013), The Raid (2011) The movie also features some surprise appearances by legendary actors like Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Al Pacino. With such a diverse and talented cast, The Expendables 4 is sure to deliver a lot of fun and excitement for the fans of the franchise and the genre.

The Expendables 4 is scheduled to be released in 2023. Don’t miss this opportunity to see some of your favorite action heroes on the big screen together. The Expendables 4 is not just a movie, it’s an event!

BY SUSHANT ALEXANDER

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO

go back in the water, think again. The follow up sequel to the blockbuster hit,The Meg, returns to the cinemas this summer, complete with a full shark tank of Jason Statham, prehistoric creatures and a larger-than-life super villain. What more could any action junkie want?

Meg 2: The Trench features the return of action legend Jason Statham as Jonas, a world-weary deep sea diver employed by the Zhang Institute, and tasked with the unenviable mission of leading a research team to investigate the Mariana Trench and explore seismic anomalies.

They soon discover that all is not what it

Image provided courtesy of Warner Bros Studios

seems, and things soon lead to disaster,as they find not just one megalodon, but three, causing chaos and carnage of biblical proportions. As usual, audiences will take a back seat to another action sci fi thriller, allowing Statham to do what he does best: tackling both prehistoric and corporate monsters in this adrenaline- filled popcorn summer flick.

They say the fish that gets away looks bigger than it really is. Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa. If this is true, Megalodon’s existence can be justified. It may not necessarily go the dinosaur way. Where size paved the way for the creature’s extinction. There aren’t so many reasons for its survival. One of them may be its extreme survival instinct. The

super predator is supposed to have eaten its siblings in the womb.

Scientists estimate that only 5 - 10 percent of the deep sea have been explored and the rest remains a mystery.

Somewhere deep down, there is a shiver of Megalodons swimming and hunting in sweet abandon.

Ocean depths are hard to fathom. Newer species of sharks emerge as humans dive deep. It’s 2023 AD and humanity is discovering new species of the ocean’s most impressive hunters. Somewhere in the mid-1980s, science had settled on around 360 species of shark, ranging from deep sea featherweights like the 20cm (8in)-long dwarf lantern shark to the enormous planktonfeeding whale shark, the largest species of fish in the oceans. But in little more than 40 years this number has jumped by nearly 40%. There are more than 500 known species and the discoveries of new species show no signs of ending. This is a clear indicator about our inadequate knowledge of what lurks beneath.

About 3.5 million years ago for up to 20 million years, Megalodon sharks were unchallenged in the mighty ocean. They were the largest sharks ever to exist and one of the largest marine predators. Fortunately, mankind had to never encounter the giant sharks and escaped becoming easy prey (snacks) to the big fish.

In ancient Greek, megalodon

means big tooth. The ginormous shark had been known to science since the 1840s. Researchers had been able to identify the species from their massive, triangular teeth, which are fossilized. The species was originally named Carcharodon Megalodon, placing it in the same genus as the modern great white shark, but nowadays it is better known as Otodus Megalodon.

The legend of the teeth is no myth. Some specimens are 16.8cm (6.6in) long. For comparison, the biggest great white shark teeth are around 7.5cm (3in). No doubt that Megalodon were big sharks. Any clue on the actual size?

It’s a tough nut to crack. Shark skeletons are made of soft cartilages. No hard bones. And cartilages don’t fossilize very well. Scientists are left with teeth and a few vertebrae that are partially mineralized.

There is little doubt on megalodon’s existence. But there are no sure ways to find the true size and shape of megalodon.  However, paleontologists have arrived at some sort of estimated figures. They have obtained the figures by measuring the sizes of Megalodon’s teeth, comparing them to the teeth of other sharks whose body sizes are known and scaling those bodies up. This is inherently uncertain because larger animals aren’t

simply magnified versions of smaller ones. The complexities and internal organizational changes of a larger animal have to be taken into account.

Conflicts and disagreements ensued. Studies have suggested megalodon could grow to 18m (59ft) or even 20m (66ft).

Contradicting this, a 2019 study, that took the upper front teeth into account as the best metric and yielded a maximum length of 15.3m (50ft 2.362inches).

The following year, another team, in another place, looked at a megalodon from the different side of a prism. They looked at the width of the teeth, rather than the height, as tooth width determines gape size. This indicated that Megalodon could grow to a length of 20m (66ft), the original measurement.

Megalodons are simply incomparable to any modern shark. Great Whites are the largest predatory sharks that patrol the ocean in modern times. They are 4.9m (16ft) long. Megalodon could have been three or four times longer than Great Whites.

The whale shark comes close to megalodon. Reliable sources report of one fish to be 18.8m (61.7ft) long. Whale sharks are not predators. They are filter feeders that feast on swarms of microscopic plankton.

Stories from the past stretch human imagination far and wide. Giant sharks and Jurassic era creatures have always featured in countless narratives. Some are hoaxes. Some are based on reported sightings to suggest that maybe this notion isn’t completely nonsensical.

“The long rows of teeth on the bulwarks glistened in the moonlight; and like the white ivory tusks of some huge elephant, vast curving icicles depended from the bows. Moby Dick, Herman Melville”

In 1918, fishermen in deep water near the Broughton Islands, New South Wales, Australia, claimed that a giant ghostly shark made off with their crayfish pots and nets. They believed that the beast was over 100 feet tall and dubbed it “Lord of the Deep.”

Another account from 1933 told of a monstrous shark that was spotted by a father and son aboard the S.S. Manganui ship in Rangiroa, French Polynesia. In the case of the latter, experts believe that the creature was a whale shark.

The uncertainty of the megalodon’s existence persisted. But the Jurassic era gigantic shark was poised to be the star of Jan de Bont’s latest directorial venture. The director was showing off a small sculpture of carcharodon megalodon. The epic of a shark had already attained super stardom. That is, even before the book or the film.

Steve Alten’s 1997 book –Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror was adapted to the screen, for the 2018 film titled, The Meg. It is about a deep-sea diver who encounters a prehistoric underwater beast. The shark had been the subject of a million-dollar movie-rights deal before the book was even published. In the nearly 10 years that followed, the film adaptation had worked its way through two studios and several

screenplays, including one written by Alten himself

Jan de Bont was determined to bring The Meg to life

The director had even commissioned a maquette of the movie’s massive creature, described in Alten’s book as a “70-foot, 70,000-pound prehistoric cousin of the Great White Shark. When the director presented the mock-up to Alten, the author didn’t see the same massive beast what he had in his mind and the book.

After the departure of de Bont, it was a petition that earned more than 65,000 signatures from loyal MegHeads and Producer Belle Avery and Director Jon Turteltaub featuring a cast of Jason Statham, Rainn Wilson, and Ruby Rose, that brought back Megalodon to life. Perhaps 2018 is the year The Meg was destined to arrive after all. “It took Belle seven years and a lot of hard work, but she managed to get it done,” says Alten.

The arrival of The Meg marks the end of one the longest movie-waits of the web era. That makes The Meg, appropriately enough, one of the last of its species: A movie made, in no small part, because of the fans wouldn’t let it sink. It took twenty years to bring Meg to screen. But then it’s the megalodon. It’s massive.

The 2023 installment is the sequel to The Meg (2018), titled – Meg2: The Trench. Starring Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio PerisMencheta, Skyler Samuels and Cliff Curtis. Let’s hope and pray what lies beneath, stays that way.

BY REBECA NISHI

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF ACTION MOVIES, YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHO ROBERT McCALL IS.

He is the protagonist of The Equalizer franchise, played by the legendary Denzel Washington. McCall is a former CIA operative who uses his skills and resources to help people in need, often by delivering brutal justice to the criminals who wrong them.

The Equalizer is a thrilling action movie that showcases Denzel’s charisma and talent as one of the most versatile and respected actors in Hollywood. He has played the role of McCall since the first movie in 2014, and has developed a deep connection with the character and his motivations. Denzel said in an interview that he likes McCall because he is “a man of principle, a man of justice, a man who cares about people”.

It is possible to notice all the technical care behind the cinematography of The Equalizer, from entire sequences that start from details (an object on the wall, for example), to the concern with focus as a dramaturgical resource, including nonobvious framing. This is a

firm nod to the director, Antoine Fuqua, who had already worked with Denzel Washington in the role that earned the actor an Oscar, for Training Day.

The Equalizer 3 is the third and final installment of the action thriller franchise. The movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim, is set to hit theaters on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023.

DENZEL’S HISTORY WITH THE CHARACTER:

The Equalizer is a slow-burn thriller keeping mind the age of star Denzel Washington on the date (59), the action scenes are brief and use fast cutting to obscure some of the specifics. For the most part, The Equalizer is a character study about a man haunted by his past, seeking a path to redemption. McCall isn’t a hero who kills as the last resort, he kills because it’s the most effective way to remove a threat.

In the first movie you saw the character Mcall as smiley, serene, looking at people with good will and kindness. He was living his dreamy life, helping everyone he could in small but significant ways, making the difference in the world by helping the ones around him. But when some events required a more energetic and violent means, he rescued his alter ego “vigilant” and scraped off every enemy in his way, or his friends’ enemies, which would make them his enemy too.

Denzel has this ‘speaking eyes’ way of acting. He doesn’t need to say anything to make you feel him, and he shifts between moods in a second and you see the transformation in his facial expression. It’s incredible his ability to make you believe that character is a real person with real feelings.

He is certainly one of the best actor of our time, and kudos to him in this specific movie.

In the second movie, you can see he has already

accepted his place in the world as a revenger, who cannot live a normal and calm life, as he believed in the first movie of the trilogy. in the first movie, where he encounters Susan Plummer,played by Melissa Leo, she tells him that if there was someone she believed could start over and have a brand new life, it would be him. But he knows what he is, and he will never stop. In the second movie he has no longer expectations to be able to leave his past behind, and he is ready to do what it costs to be the equalizer of society. You see now a Robert McCall with stern features, still kind and helpful with neighbors, and willing to help anyone he can reach, but his serious face shows us how he is in the “mission mode” now.

HISTORY OF THE MOVIE, SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MOVIE

Washington first played McCall in The Equalizer (2014), based on the 1980s TV series of the same name. The movie was a hit, earning $192 million worldwide and receiving positive reviews from critics and audiences.

The Equalizer never felt like every other crime show on network television and the

differences allowed it to survive for four seasons.

25 years later, The Equalizer isn’t a series crying out for a big-screen resurrection but it is an entirely new entity.

It introduced Robert McCall as a quiet and mysterious man who works at a hardware store. Later in the story, we find out that U.S. Marine and DEA officer, now lives a quiet life in Boston. He helps colleagues at work and neighbors, as a good citizen. We never learn the specifics about what led Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) to resign from the CIA but we know it led to him faking his own death and deciding to live an anonymous life as a shelf stocker at Home Depot.

Unable to sleep, he often spends late nights reading at an all-night diner. Over time, he has befriended Teri, a teenage prostitute trafficked by the Russian mafia, who calls herself Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz). One night, her pimp Slavi abruptly arrives, hits Teri and forces her into the car. He hands a stunned Robert his business card and drives away. When Teri is brutally beaten by her pimp and hospitalized, McCall decides to intervene and unleashes his wrath on the Russian mob.

He reprised his role in The Equalizer 2,

becoming the first actor to collaborate with Fuqua for a fourth time. The sequel, released in 2018, showed McCall as a Lyft driver who helps various clients with their problems, such as recovering a stolen ring or rescuing a kidnapped girl. He also reconnects with his old friend Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), who gives him the occasional off-the-books freelance assignment — the opening sequence follows him scrapping a group of kidnappers on a train bound to Istanbul. Besides that, he continues his job as a good citizen in current doings —trying to help an elderly Lyft customer (Orson Bean) recover a painting stolen from his family by the Nazis and mentoring a neighbor kid, Miles (Ashton Sanders) by encouraging him to follow his passion for painting instead of get involved with drug dealers. It goes awry when Susan goes off to Belgium to investigate the mysterious murder-suicide of a highlevel agency contact and meets an ugly end. It becomes personal, and McCall is soon on the case utilizing his extraordinary intuition and impeccable investigator skills to track down Susan’s killers and wipe them out. McCall then seeks revenge on the killers, who turn out to be his former partner from the CIA. The movie was also

successful, grossing $190 million worldwide and getting favorable feedback from fans.

When you read the plot you might think it’s a predictable storyline, but you cannot imagine how compelling it is and how the story develops in front of you. The fight scenes are really good, I mean, it could be excessively bloody to many people, but very enjoyable to the ones who are fans of action movies.

WHO IS THE EQUALIZER:

McCall is a former CIA operative who faked his death and retired from his violent life. He lives a quiet and solitary existence, working in a hardware store in the first movie and as a Lyft driver in the second movie, helping strangers with their problems. He is a master of hand-tohand combat, firearms and explosives, as well as a skilled strategist and tactician. He is also a voracious reader and a lover of classical music. He follows a strict code of ethics and does not kill unless absolutely necessary.

WHAT IS AN EQUALIZER:

An equalizer is someone who balances the scales

of justice by taking on the powerful and corrupt who prey on the weak and innocent.

McCall sees himself as an equalizer, using his skills and resources to help those who have no one else to turn to. He often times his actions with a stopwatch, adding an element of suspense and challenge to his missions.

McCall is not a superhero, but a human being who uses his intelligence, experience and courage to fight against injustice and corruption. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty, but he also has a moral code and a sense of compassion.

WHAT IS THIS MOVIE ABOUT, HOW DID WE GET HERE:

The Equalizer 3 was announced in 2019, after the success of the previous two films, which grossed over $400 million worldwide. The movie is significant because it marks the end of Washington’s journey as McCall, as well as his reunion with Dakota Fanning, who played his protege Emma Collins in ‘Man on Fire’ (2004), another action thriller directed by Tony Scott. The movie also features an international cast, including Italian actors Eugenio Mastrandrea, Remo Girone and Gaia Scodellaro.

The movie follows McCall as he travels to Southern Italy. He befriends a local family who runs a vineyard, but soon discovers that they are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what

he has to do: to become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia. Along the way, he reunites with Emma Collins, who is now a journalist investigating human trafficking in Europe.

Now, after five years of waiting, we finally get to see the third and final installment of the trilogy: The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who helmed the previous two films, and written by Richard Wenk, who co-wrote the first film and wrote the second one.

The movie promises to be an explosive and satisfying conclusion to McCall’s story, as he faces his toughest challenge yet. It will also explore his character more deeply, as we learn more about his history with the CIA and his relationship with Emma. Fans can expect to see more of McCall’s trademark skills and gadgets, such as his stopwatch, his gun, and his book collection. They can also look forward to some thrilling action sequences, such as a car chase, a shootout, and hand-to-hand combat.

The Equalizer 3 follows McCall as he travels across the country to help different people who are facing various problems, such as domestic violence, human trafficking, drug addiction and corporate fraud. Along the way, he also encounters old friends and foes, who reveal more about his background and his involvement in a secret organization. By the images we have seen in the trailers, the movie is full of twists and turns, as well as spectacular action sequences.

BY CALEB FIETSAM

PIXAR, THE ANIMATION POWERHOUSE RENOWNED

for its creative genius, consistently delivers cinematic masterpieces that span generations, captivating both adults and children with their thought-provoking narratives and visually stunning worlds. Their latest gem, Elemental, continues this tradition, weaving an enchanting tapestry that tugs at the heartstrings and dazzles the senses. With its rich storytelling and groundbreaking animation, Elemental introduces us to a world where the elements themselves come alive in ways that ignite our imagination and evoke deep emotions.

Nestled within the intricate tapestry of Elemental City, Elemental invites us to follow the journey of Ember Lumen. A character conceived with an abundance of element puns firmly intended, Ember is a fiery young woman whose very essence is made of fire. As a first-generation immigrant living on the outskirts of Elemental City, Ember’s journey is one of cultural identity, dreams, and the weight of legacy. At the heart of her aspirations lies the desire to inherit her father Bernie’s shop, a beacon of dreams and hopes.

The burden of Bernie’s legacy takes its toll on Ember, intensifying her already fiery temperament. The catalyst for change arrives when her bursts

of fire lead her to cross paths with City Inspector Wade Ripple, colloquially known as “Water Guy.” This seemingly random encounter propels Ember into the heart of Elemental City, a bustling metropolis where the elements - Water, Earth, and Wind - coexist harmoniously.

One of the most creative aspects of Elemental lies in how it portrays the different elements in a multitude of ways. These manifestations go beyond mere visual representation; they seep into every facet of the world, from transportation methods to sports and even the roles of city officials. The film ingeniously incorporates clever interactions between conflicting elements, weaving a rich tapestry of relationships that reflect the qualities of each element. Whether it’s Wind-themed sports teams featuring playful fart puns, Earth’s stability lending itself to governmental roles, Fire’s unexpected creative and constructive capabilities, or Water’s adaptability, mobility, and versatility, the movie truly celebrates the unique essence of each element.

While Elemental boasts breathtaking animation, it soon becomes evident that its narrative is layered with depth and meaning that goes beyond the visual spectacle. At its core, the film resonates with the struggles and triumphs of the immigrant experience, drawing a poignant parallel between Ember’s journey and the challenges faced by real-life immigrant families. The movie delves into themes of heritage, identity, and the universal yearning for acceptance.

Director Peter Sohn, known for his work on The Good

Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios

Dinosaur, infuses the film with his personal experiences as the son of immigrants living in bustling New York City. This authenticity shines through as the cultural details distinguishing the elements are meticulously rendered. Fire, in particular, stands out with its distinct cultural influences, adding layers of authenticity and depth to the story.

The cast, led by the remarkable Leah Lewis as Ember, adds a layer of verity that brings the characters to life. Lewis captures Ember’s emotional struggle with grace and genuineness, portraying a woman torn between her expected path and the new perspectives brought by her budding love. Mamoudou Athie, renowned for his role in the horror series Archive 81, breathes life into Water Guy Wade. Athie’s portrayal resonates with relatable emotional depth, adding a layer of sincerity to the evolving romance between Ember and Wade.

The supporting cast further elevates the film’s resonance. Inside Out codirector Ronnie Del Carmen lends his voice to Bernie, Ember’s father, infusing the character with a sense of tradition and history. Shila Ommi embodies Ember’s mother, Cinder, delivering a nuanced performance that adds warmth and complexity to the familial relationships.

Catherine O’Hara, a familiar face from Schitt’s Creek, infuses Brooke, Wade’s mother, with her unique comedic sensibilities, seamlessly blending her humor into the narrative.

Elemental thrives on the concept of unity, emphasizing the dissolution of perceived boundaries. The elements, often viewed as separate and distinct forces, are seamlessly interwoven within Elemental City, symbolizing the potential for harmony among diverse cultures and backgrounds. The film’s overarching message speaks of connection, acceptance, and the beauty that arises from collaboration.

Initially overshadowed by the animated SpiderMan sequel’s box office dominance, Elemental faced a slow start in the theaters. However, time revealed its hidden gem status, and the film gradually gained traction, resonating with audiences and carving a niche for itself in the world of animation.

In essence, Elemental serves as yet another shining testament to Pixar’s remarkable storytelling prowess. The film invites viewers to submerge themselves in a world where elemental forces meld seamlessly with human emotions, where barriers crumble, and unity triumphs. With its resonant themes, awe-inspiring animation, and a cast that breathes life into the characters, Elemental stands as a testament to the potency of storytelling, a powerful reminder of the enchantment that cinema can bring into our lives. As Pixar continues to push the boundaries of animated storytelling, Elemental emerges as a captivating chapter in their storied legacy, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of audiences.

Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mech Cadets makes a mighty return!

By highly acclaimed writer Greg Pak (Star Wars: Darth Vader), superstar artist Takeshi Miyazawa (She-Hulk), and colorist Ian Herring (Spider-Man / Deadpool). General Park–head of Sky Corps Academy–must assemble a team of heroes to protect humankind from alien invasions, and Stanford Yu, Maya Sanchez, Frank Olivetti, and Park’s own daughter Olivia may have been pulled into the role by fate... as they are Earth’s best hope. But there is more to their relationships with the symbiotic, sentient giant Robos they pilot... and the alien threat of The Sharg is far more epic and widespread than any could imagine!

REVIEW

Greg Pak’s Mech Cadets #1 is a wonderful throwback to the era of mega robots and alien species that I grew up with in the 1980s with Voltron and Robotech. Our heroes, Olivia Park and the other

MECH CADETS #1

brave cadets that make up SupraRobo Hero Force 2, helped save the planet one year prior. Now, Olivia is saddled with the heavy burden of trying to prove she’s worthy of the responsibility placed upon her, worthy of the admiration of her father General Park and, most importantly, true to herself by always doing what she considers the right thing. Olivia finds out that saving the planet is easy in comparison to appeasing a parent. What could have been a paint by numbers alien vs mecha story is inundated with socio-economic elements, like when the Supra-Robo Hero Force has to distinguish between looters and civilians struggling

to survive. Pak’s writing is crisp and clean. The dialogue is witty, clever and charming. The lettering of Simon Bowland is the real hero here. Bowland’s choice to have word bubbles color coded to the mech of each character saved me a major headache. Miyazawa’s art is superb and fluid. The action is easy to follow. Mech Cadets is set to be adapted into a Netflix animated series. If it is able to capture half the charm of this issue, we’re in for a treat.

8.5/10 VERDICT

Publisher: Boom Studios | Writer: Greg Pak | Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa | Colorist: Ian Herring

Image from Boom! Studios

/ The Walt Disney Company / Dark Horse Comics

THE ODDLY PEDESTRIAN LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CHAOS #2

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics | Writer: Tate Brombal | Artist: Isaac Goodhart Colorist: Miquel Muerto

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

From the New York Times bestselling and multi-Eisner award-winning writers of Something is Killing the Children, The Department of Truth, and House of Slaughter; and the artist on Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story comes this LGBTQ+ horror-hero coming-of-age series that’s Invincible meets Doom Patrol. Continuing to explore the twisted world of Christopher Chaos, we meet a new dark hero who takes on the crime-infested streets of New Briar City named Dracula Boy. Is this vigilante an actual vampire, or a cape with a grudge to pick? Meanwhile,

after a memorial takes place for Christopher’s school crush, he comes face-to-face with the fanged monster himself for a bloody confrontation.

REVIEW

With a name like Christopher Chaos there’s a slim chance that your life is going to be pedestrian. This issue is definite proof of that. The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos #2 takes us deeper into the world of masked vigilante teens and Chaos’ home; New Briar City. Based on a concept envisioned by James Tynion IV, Tate Brombal wrote a wonderfully complex tale of intrigue and heroics. The cast of this issue is large but written in such a skillful manner so that the characters are all slightly adjacent to each other. Goodhart’s art is kinesthetic and appropriately detailed. Christopher Chaos is not exactly your typical leading protagonist. We discover that Chaos has a room akin to Dr. Frankensteins’ laboratory. It’s actually pretty disturbing. There’s

also your typical high school drama that you could come to expect from a coming-of-age book like this one. As someone who’s had to conduct many assemblies before, I found this part of the story really funny, which probably speaks very clearly to the fact that my age group is not the intended age demographic for this book. My only issue with the coloring is that, in a weird and wacky world such as what we’re presenting with, I would expect the colors to pop off the page but instead they’re slightly muted. The dullness of the coloring didn’t belay the richness of the art.

STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI - MAX REBO #1

Publisher: Marvel Comics | Writer: Daniel Jose Older | Artist: Paul Fry | Colorist: Carlos Lopez

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

The mythology of Star Wars is absolutely intriguing. It’s been 40 years and we are still exploring (and exploiting) the galaxy that George Lucas created for us. Blue baby elephant-like Muppet Max Rebo is given his time to shine in this spotlight issue from Marvel Comics.

REVIEW

I admire the manner in which Older strives to give Rebo a depth that the

silver screen did not. Max longs for an escape from the dreary, weariness of life under the fat flipper of Jabba the Hutt. For Max, that escape can only be visualized as death. Max longs for death so that he can join his musical mentor. Max and his band each plot and scheme to find their way out of Jabba’s Palace all while key events of Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi play out around us. Older gives Max a surprising complex introspection that resonates in an oddly sympathetic fashion. Paul Fry’s art is wonderful, poignant at times, and comedic at others. Max nearly getting shot, and surveying the damage done around him was beautifully rendered in such a way that you can envision a puppeteer making the same movements. Fry’s art is consistently organic and the movement of characters is naturalistic. Carlos Lopez wonderfully colors each panel, giving life to Fry’s wonderful art. I’m a Star Wars fan but never pictured that I’d read and enjoy a solo issue about Max Rebo. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Max Rebo #1 is a blast.

8.5/10 VERDICT

Image from Marvel.com,

The Walt Disney Company / Lucasfilm / Previewsworld.com / Squarespace / Marvel Comics

DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE #1

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

THE END OF THE VENOMVERSE IS HERE! CULLEN BUNN and GERARDO SANDOVAL reunite to bring the symbiotic ax down on the VENOMVERSE! CARNAGE has been building his powers up, extracting unique abilities from many villains throughout the MARVEL UNIVERSE to the point of traversing the Multiverse with ONE GOAL: KILL ANY AND ALL VENOMS!

REVIEW

The Spider-Verse and its infinite cast of characters is daunting to comprehend and often too intimidating for me to pick up. I usually admire the books on the shelf and move along just as quickly. Death of the Venomverse #1 is a rare

pick-up for me. The book intrigued me largely for two reasons: The book looks beautiful and I was hoping that my minute knowledge of the multiverse would be enough to get me through this. I love Venom but am woefully ignorant concerning his current status in the Marvel Universe. Thankfully, I was correct on both assumptions. The art is stunning in this book. It’s got a modern feel to it while simultaneously feeling like it could be from 1993. Sandoval is able to capture the manic nature of the symbiotes while also keeping it accessible and comprehensible. You need only a quick recap, beautifully provided in the first two

pages, to catch you up to speed and relatively basic knowledge of Venom, Carnage and a host of our Marvel characters. As far as I can attest to, our universe’s Venom doesn’t even appear in this book, which centers on the Earth 1051 symbiotes Agent Venom and Virus, as they hunt down Carnage as he hops through the multiverse hunting down and acquiring the powers of the Venom of the multiverse. Bunn is able to give us close to a dozen variants of characters we know and love while also giving them reliability and intrigue. You may not know the Venomized version of Ant-Man or X-23, but you know you want them to stop Carnage and feel for them when they fall. If you’re a fan of Venom you’re undoubtedly going to fall in love with this book, but don’t let the multiversal concept scare you away. The book is accessible and clearly building towards what will hopefully be an amazing climax.

9.0/10 VERDICT

Publisher: Marvel Comics | Writer: Cullen Bunn | Artist: Gerardo Sandoval | Colorist: Jim Campbell

STEELWORKS #1

Publisher: DC Comics | Writer: Michael Dorn |

Sam Basri | Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

The Metropolis of the future is here today, but can it survive a terrorist who’s out for revenge against its builder-John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Steeland his company, Steelworks…and who possesses secrets that could undo everything John has worked so hard to build?

While John’s professional life is firing on all cylinders, his personal life is even better, as his on-again, off-again relationship with Lana Lang might be back on, permanently. Now he must decide whether it’s time to give up being Steel once and for all. But does John even know who he would be without his superhero identity? How does the other SteelJohn’s niece, Natasha Irons-feel about his momentous decision? And does any of that matter if Steelworks crumbles around him when he lacks the superpowers to fight back? Writer Michael Dorn (the voice of Steel in Superman: The Animated Series) teams up with artist Sami Basri (Harley Quinn, Catwoman) to bring you the next chapter of Steel’s saga

in this not-to-be missed six-issue miniseries!

REVIEW

Steel is a fun character to read and visually one of the more unique members of the Super Family. His gray, metal suit makes him stand out amongst a chorus of red, blue and yellow. It’s great to see John Henry Irons getting a spotlight six issue series like this, in recognition of his place in the DC Universe on the 30 year anniversary of his introduction to it. DC hired legendary Star Trek actor Michael Dorn to pen this series, and considering that he voiced Steel in the DC Animated Universe, is a stroke of genius. John Henry is trying to put the ‘super’ out of his name and focus more on the ‘man’, much to the chagrin of his niece, Natasha. His focus has shifted to preventative measures that protect the little man rather than reactive, citing numerous events, some of which are highlighted in the issue’s epilogue, in which metropolis and its inhabitants suffered at the hands of supervillains like Doomsday and Metallo. John

references technologies that, while not expanded upon greatly, include force fields of some sort. Dorn writes Steel beautifully especially when it comes to the interpersonal aspects of his relationship with his niece and love interest, Lana Lang. Dorn can very clearly write dialogue well, so well in fact that you don’t even notice that in a book that features Superman and the Super Family, that there isn’t a single punch thrown in the entire issue. For many that might be a turn off, but I love the idea of a superhero trying to save his city through wit and intelligence rather than how hard they can hit. I found the issues villains a tad too cliched’ and one dimensional; longing for vengeance against Steel for the loss of loved ones, (no doubt indirectly or inferred) complete with maniacal laughter. The art is spot on and the design of the Steelworks tower is interesting. I hope it survives this series and goes on to become a landmark in the DC Universe.

8.0/10 VERDICT

Artist:

Image from DC Comics / Hasbro / Marvel Comics

VOID RIVALS #1

Publisher: Image Comics | Writer: Robert Kirkman | Artist: Lorenzo De Felici Colorist: Matheus Lopes

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

The blockbuster OBLIVION SONG team of ROBERT KIRKMAN & LORENZO DE FELICI debut the biggest new comic book series of 2023 with the launch of AN ALLNEW SHARED UNIVERSE and a SURPRISE you won’t see coming! War rages around the Sacred Ring where the last remnants of two worlds have collapsed around a black hole in a never-ending war. However, when pilot Darak and his rival Solila both crash on a desolate planet, these two enemies must find a way to escape together. But are they alone on this strange planet? And what dark forces await that threaten the entire universe?

REVIEW

Did I just read a Transformers comic book in disguise written by Robert “The Walking Dead” Kirkman? I can’t believe it. When Skybound was announced as the new publisher for the Transformers franchise of characters, I assumed they’d go big 8.0/10

being laid down here. The idea that Starfire was dormant on this planet for potentially millions of years and that the male alien protagonist is having visions is really interesting. De Felici’s aart is excellent. The character designs are well done and our sole Transformer’s overwhelming size is relayed perfectly. Void Rivals is an excellent start to the Energon Universe, as it kicks into high gear under the watchful eye of Robert Kirkman and Skybound Entertainment. with a gigantic Generation One book centered around Optimus Prime. That book is on its way, but Void Rivals brings us into the newly christened Energon Universe in an almost Twilight Zone-esque manner. When Jetfire is awakened and transforms, with the iconic sound written out in onomatopoeia, it gave me chills. What surprised me more about this book is that even without the presence of iconic Transformers, I was still interested in the story of these two trapped rival alien species. The dialogue is simple and the storytelling is fairly straightforward but I love the foundation that is

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #9

Publisher: Marvel Comics | Writer: Cody Ziglar | Artist: Federico Vicentini & Federico Sabbatini | Colorist: Bryan Valenza

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

VS. HOBGOBLIN - TO THE DEATH! MILES MORALES, A.K.A. SPIDER-MAN’s, battle against the HOBGOBLIN reaches a fever pitch, pushing Miles to his limits - AND BEYOND - awakening new powers that could save the day…or utterly consume and destroy the wallcrawler for good!

REVIEW

If you’re in the mood for some good ol’ fashioned Spidey action, this is definitely going to be an issue you don’t want to pass up. Hobgoblin, for whom I will forever read in Mark Hamill’s voice thanks to the 90s Spider-Man the Animated Series, is unstable and unstoppable as he rampages through Beyond Corporation looking for some sort of memory erasing substance. In truth, Hobgoblin, Spider-Man and Starling could have been looking for a kitten, and it wouldn’t have mattered to me because the ensuing banter and action were absolutely awesome.

Miles’ spider sense isn’t tingling like it should and it’s completely throwing him off his game. Thankfully, Starling aka Tiana Toomes is there to assist. G.A.R.E., a guard robot from the Beyond Corporation, absolutely steals the book in a Baymax kind of way. Vicentini and Sabbatini nail the kinetic nature of the action sequences. Their panel work is asstounding. Openly critical of most of the Spider-Books out there right now, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy issue 9 as much as I did. I’m enjoying the Miles Morales: Spider-Man series and, despite that, thought the previous issue was a tad slow for my liking, but this issue amps up everything you’d ever want

in a Miles book. The quips are fast and funny, the action is nonstop and at its core Miles’ relatability is on full display. It’s also great to see Hobgoblin written well. Like Joker in DC, I feel like I can’t pick up a Spidey book without seeing an infinite array of symbiotes, so reading a book that centers on a classic villain is a breath of fresh air. I might go as far as saying that this is the only good Spider-Man series currently running.

9.5/10 VERDICT

Image from DC Comics / Hasbro / Marvel Comics

SUPERMAN: THE LAST DAYS OF LEX LUTHOR #1

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch reunite to tell a tale centered on their favorite superhero. Superman learns Lex Luthor is dying, and he wants the Man of Steel to help him find the cure for whatever is causing his rapid decline. While the world wants to say good riddance to Luthor, Superman will go to the ends of the universe, through different dimensions, and across time to save his foe. But just why does he want to save the person who’s spent his life trying to destroy him? And will he even be able to find the solution?

REVIEW

If DC was going to choose a modern writer to tackle a three issue limited series that explores the relationship between Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, I couldn’t think of a better person than Mark Waid. The Last Days of Lex Luthor is shaping up to be another legendary series. Hitch and Nowlan make a formidable team, as the penciler and inker on this issue

respectively. Everything to make Superman admirable and Lex Luthor deplorable is on full display in this Black Label series. Waid also captures the true nature of Superman’s enduring appeal by focusing on not just his physical feats but his mental acuity and compassion. The story begins in a classic narrative manner, as Clark sits alone in the Daily Planet. We are reading narration as an after action report. We flashback to the encounter between Lex and Supes that sets the stage for the series. It quickly and smoothly transitions over to real time exposition. Despite the issue going to great lengths to explore the mythology of Superman that has developed over the course of eighty plus years, you don’t need to be a Superman historian to enjoy this issue. Like Lex, who experiences the Bottle City of Kandor and the Fortress of Solitude for the first time, readers are given everything they need to know in order to fully understand and enjoy the book; a true sign of a great comic. Lex is dying and he knows that in spite of their tumultuous history, Superman

won’t let him die. Superman feels compelled by both compassion, something that we see lacking in native Krytponians, and a sense of guilt. Superman feels that he couldn’t save a young Lex Luthor from a lab accident but he can possibly save him now. In the DC Extended Universe the ‘S’ that adorns Superman’s suit stands for hope. Hope seems to be the recurring theme throughout the issue. Superman hopes to redeem himself for his past guilt. Lex hopes that Superman can save him. This book is a must read and my choice for Comic Book of the Month.

Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label | Writer: Mark Waid | Artist: Bryan Hitch (pencils) & Kevin Nowlan (inks) | Colorist: David Baron

DREAMLAND COFFEE? I GOTTA TRY THIS.

YOU ALREADY HAVE COFFEE! AND I CAN CONTINUOUSLY REFILL YOUR CUP, ME, AT ANY MOMENT.

NOT THE SAME.

WHERE WE GOIN’? WHERE WE GOIN’?

IT’S EXACTLY THE SAME!

I FEE... I WOULD ADVISE YOU REEVALUATE THE FACT...

YEA, WELL, YA KNOW.

NO. I DON’T KNOW. WHY DON’T YOU TELL ME.

BECAUSE THAT IS REASSURING. SEE, YOU AGREE. NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!

YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED TO SAY SOMETHING.

DON’T WORRY, HE’S WITH ME.

...THAT ALL OF US ARE TRESPASSERS HERE. SERVICE

...HONESTLY? I DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO SAY. But her mummy is yelling no And her daddy has told her to go

SIGH.

It’ s a God-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair

GREAT MUSIC.

ALMOST DEAD COMIC BOOK

BOOK COMING OCTOBER 2023

GALAXY Writer / Creator

RYAN BENJAMIN Artist

TYLER KIRKHAM Cover Artist

JOHN LIVESAY Inks

@AlmostDeadComics

Almost Dead is a post-apocalyptic horror- drama adventure about triumph, growth, and the resiliency of the human spirit. With their cinematic comic book series which depicts vicious and visceral events in a raw yet beautiful way, Galaxy has redefined the genre and nearly invented one of their own. Infusing the perilous and unexpectedly exciting journey with absolute horror and an attention to detail that’s rooted in and dedicated to realism, the creator and writers have established a nexus point between exhilaration and terror.