eerieindiana | May. 19th, 2018

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May. 19th, 2018

TV25: Here's what was on TV 25 years ago (Tuesday) 18 May 1993. Any favourites here? @transdiffusion pic.twitter.com/N4ZPn9dUmC
— Russty Russ (@russty_russ) May 18, 2018

For this challenge, create a fanwork based on one of the (sixteen!) Eerie, Indiana tie-in books.

‘Hollywood Boulevard’ (1976)

Roger Corman’s “let the kids do it” philosophy at his New Word Pictures B-movie factory resulted in some delightful experiments, and few were better than this affectionate, occasionally biting parody of ’70s exploitation drive-in movies.

Joe Dante and Allan Arkush each got their second directing credits on the completely random, often absurdist story of ingenue Candy Wednesday (Candice Rialson) as she stumbles through Tinsletown’s sex and drug-laced underbelly. Mary Woronov is her typical perfection as a Norma Desmond-esque B-movie queen who will go to any lengths to hold onto her throne.

The film is alternately goofy — Commander Cody shows up for no apparent reason to perform “Everybody’s Doin’ It” — and satirically harrowing. A drive-in projectionist tries to assault Candy when he’s unable to distinguish between what he sees on screen and reality. Fairly heady stuff. And Godzilla gets one of his few American screen credits.

Many of our childhoods were dominated by the classic Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus. Whether you were in it for the wicked spooks, the youthful fun, or the fabulous outfits of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, the 1993 horror comedy made its mark on our culture as a collective, agreed upon, all-time fave. Now, it’s about to get a whole lot gayer.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the film’s release, a two-part young adult novel will be released to commemorate the classic tale. Disney promises a “fresh retelling” of the movie, plus a brand-new sequel that follows the next generation of Salem teens—and the protagonist is a queer little lady!

The sequel novel follows Poppy, the 17-year-old daughter of the original characters, Max and Allison. Poppy comes face to face with the Sanderson sisters and must band together with her friends to save Salem from the witches’ latest sinister plot. In the book’s official character description, Poppy is described as an “introspective aspiring photographer” and a skeptic of her father’s wild stories about evil witches who “musters the courage to share her family’s backstory with her new friend and crush, Isabella Richards.”

That’s right—she has a crush on another girl!

But wait: there’s more gay. Isabella is described as “the most popular girl at Jacob Bailey High and has an admirable list of extracurriculars—not to mention a killer report card. It’s no wonder Poppy thinks no one holds a candle to her.” I’m overwhelmed with adorable teen girl queerness—just end me!

The super queer, super spooky young adult novel is set to be released on July 10th, almost exactly 25 years after the film’s release. If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can pre-order Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel now.

The Television Academy Foundation has launched its new website for The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, (TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews), featuring never-before-seen interviews with many of television’s most beloved stars, show creators and behind-the-scenes innovators. (Graphic: Business Wire)

It is the world’s largest such collection available online.

For more than 20 years, the Foundation has been recording and preserving the first-person stories of television’s creation and its evolution, amassing the largest oral history archive on the medium and, since 2008, making it available online.

That website has been redesigned, updated and expanded, housing a curated and fully searchable, cross-referenced online archive of over 4,000 hours of uncensored interviews with icons from television's earliest days to current stars and visionaries. It’s an unmatched collection of in-depth conversations with industry professionals from many disciplines and in all genres in television who speak candidly, at times comically, and always perceptively about their careers and experiences.

Visitors to the site can screen thousands of clips from the personal stories of TV’s greatest luminaries: Walter Cronkite shares the emotional challenge of reporting the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols reveals that Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged her to continue her role as one of television’s most prominent African-American characters; Late Show with David Letterman’s Paul Shaffer divulges he was the first star approached to play George Costanza in Seinfeld; Rita Moreno reflects on the stereotypical roles available for Hispanic actors in the 1950s; and, then-NBC journalist Linda Ellerbee notes that no dress code existed for female reporters on Capitol Hill in the 1970s since no one expected women to hold those positions.

The accomplished men and women profiled provide insight into the lives and work of the artists, corporate executives, larger-than-life characters and technical innovators responsible for the evolution of television. These firsthand accounts capture the context of different eras in American history, illustrating how television reflected society through its news and entertainment content and shaped culture in ways that no other medium could.

All of the inspiring, funny, poignant and fascinating stories — from Betty White to Edie Falco, John Amos to Dick Van Dyke, Edward James Olmos to Richard Thomas, Diane English to Norman Lear — make The Interviews an irreplaceable industry resource. The Foundation has also established partnerships with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Visual History Program, Emerson College’s American Comedy Archives and the Writers Guild Foundation to co-produce and share content on The Interviews site.

The new site premieres with a number of newly produced and catalogued interviews, including a conversation with Emmy ® Award-winner Larry Wilmore ( black-ish/The Bernie Mac Show ). Additional new 2018 interviews include: Saturday Night Live’s production design team and Director Don Roy King, Bonnie Bartlett ( St. Elsewhere / Home Improvement/Once and Again), Director/Producer Barry Levinson ( OZ/The Wizard of Lies ), Jimmie Walker ( Good Times ), William Daniels ( St. Elsewhere/Boy Meets World ), John Astin ( The Addams Family ), Louise Lasser ( Girls/Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ) and Bernie Kopell ( The Love Boat/Get Smart ).

“The Foundation is thrilled to present the redesigned site for this historic video collection,” said Madeline Di Nonno, chair of the Television Academy Foundation. “For over two decades the Foundation has been producing The Interviews, providing an invaluable, free-to-screen resource for students, teachers, journalists, TV fans, producers, historians and the general public worldwide. We invite everyone to visit the site and explore its fresh content and updated features.”

Jodi Delaney, executive director of the Television Academy Foundation, said, “With the new website launched, the Foundation is focused on fundraising for a long-term storage and preservation plan for The Interviews as well as making it more accessible with captioning and language translation.”

About the Television Academy Foundation

Established in 1959 as the charitable arm of the Television Academy, the Television Academy Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy of television while educating and inspiring those who will shape its future. Through renowned educational and outreach programs, such as The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, College Television Awards and Internship Program, the Foundation seeks to widen the circle of voices our industry represents and to create more opportunity for television to reflect all of society. For more information on the Foundation, visit TelevisionAcademy.com/Foundation.

God seems to have either gone Missing in Action or senile. This has compelled the angels in heaven to revolt—seriously and actually—and the havoc wreaked on Earth because of that, erupts in Marisol, Jose Rivera’s dystopic 1992 epic drama. Ricardo Vazquez has directed an enthralling production of this absurdist work of magical realism for Theatre Coup d’Etat.

The protagonist named Marisol is akin to an Everywoman figure, like the Everyman figure that looms in medieval morality drama. A wanderer in a fallen world, Marisol, a young Puerto Rican woman, seems to exist by the skin of her teeth in late 20th century New York City amidst the ruins of the apocalypse. The superb Sabrina Diehl plays the one character in this living nightmare who has some shred of sanity left as chaos, hunger, and cruelty ensue and pervade.

The horrors depicted are as psychological as they are physical: a man giving birth to a stillborn baby, an unhinged arsonist on the loose, being falsely and fanatically accused of being a Nazi even though you’re not one. Rivera demonstrates brilliantly how dark irrational thoughts can ricochet into creating a dark horrific reality.

What makes Marisol, the play, a prime challenge to pull off theatrically is the sheer psychic enormity of the negativity it portrays. How does one not overwhelm the audience to the point that its deeper meanings are swallowed up? How does a director certify that it won’t play at one general sustained level only? Indeed, there are multiple dimensions of evil in Rivera’s bleak vision.

Ingeniously, Vazquez has risen to that challenge with a cast that astonishes, every one. Each scene in this particular production is piercingly focused and specific in intent. This is remarkable because the script is written at unusually high emotional pitch. Therefore, the trick is to not let the intensity and the language get smothered in themselves while playing the scenes to the full throttle velocity a successful staging of Marisol demands.

As you would imagine, all performances soar with the masterful Diehl navigating the turbulent narrative. Craig James Hostetler is utterly visceral in a great performance as the fittingly named Lenny, a dependent emasculated young man ruled by both threatening behaviors as well as pathetically submissive ones. He is stunningly matched with a marvelously cunning Kelly Nelson as the controllingly cruel white collar June, his bitter sister and Marisol’s fellow very close friend. Yet another notable portrayal by Nelson, one of the Twin Cities’ finest young actresses.

The excellent Nikhil Pandey exudes paranoid volatility as Man With Golf Club and Scar Tissue (yes, that is the character name). Pedro Juan Fonseca is an intimidating powerhouse as Man With Ice Cream whose menacing presence is truly unsettling. A sterling example of what seems to be a smaller throwaway role, played to the hilt. At points when Fonseca struts across the space he is downright frightening!

Over it all is a disturbingly commanding performance by Dana Lee Thompson as the Angel who seems to be influencing some of the hellishness at some hidden insidious level. AnaSofia Villanueva rounds out this spectacular cast with a splendid turn as Woman in Furs.

The spare minimalist setting in an actual chapel at SpringHouse Ministry is peppered with black trash bags, cardboard signage and crime scene tape—stark signifiers of a culture in the last gasp of decline. Simple but profound costumes by Chelsea Wren Hanvey and lighting by Mark Kieffer punctuate the grim atmosphere with strong understatement. Forest Godfrey’s evocative sound design further reinforces the spectral realm of this wrenching Marisol.

Kingdom Hearts fans, remember Laxrene? Of course you do. The Organization XIII member left a lasting impact on Sora as he made his way through Castle Oblivion, but she hasn’t been seen in the series since she last appeared in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in 2009. Well, that’s about to change.

Twitter user @sobpar for some reason sent a direct message tovoice actor Shanelle Gray’s Instagram account, asking her if she would be reprising her role as Laxrene in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3. Understandably, they didn’t expect her to reply- but reply she did, simply responding with a single word- “yes”.

It makes sense, too, that Laxrene will be appearing in Kingdom Hearts 3. Marluxia, who was her partner in Chains of Memories, was confirmed to be appearing in the game recently, after all. Kingdom Hearts 3 is currently without a release date, but we expect that will change at this year’s E3. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

If television is to be believed, the temperate rainforests and rocky seashores of America’s Pacific Northwest are filled with time travelers, mad scientists, vampires, witches, werewolves, more time travelers, shape-shifting lady seamonsters, fairytale monsters passing as human, fairytale hunters passing as law enforcement, actual fae passing as both, still more time travelers, zombies, huckster cryptids, real cryptids, belly-buttonless alien-clone-mystery boys, even more time travelers, multiple Bigfeet, and at least two Kyles MacLachlan.

And it’s not just traditional television that’s pushing this regionally specific (sur)reality: Boasting the tagline Only Slightly Exaggerated, the Miyazaki-inflected Travel Oregon ad published to YouTube virality in March of this year goes so far as to suggest that the Beaver State is teeming with cloud-sized rabbits, whale-filled clouds, and smiling caterpillars riding their fixies all over the verdant mountainous wilds surrounding the city hipsters go to retire.

Of course, barring the many Kyles MacLachlan flitting around the country’s every burg, (probably) none of these spooky, supernatural things are real. The Pacific Northwest, however, is. And something about it, some intrinsic part of its green, rainy soul, has attracted such a great magnitude of American television’s sci-fi, fantasy, and supernatural storytellers over the last few decades that the identity of speculative fiction has become as firmly tied to the moody, lichen-swathed forests of the Pacific Northwest as noir got tied to the hot, neon-soaked streets of Los Angeles in the 1940s.

The trend started out slow, with Twin Peaks (Washington) and Harry and the Hendersons (Washington) premiering in 1990 and 1991, respectively, but started picking up steam after Dead Like Me (Seattle) and The 4400 (Washington) got in the game in 2003 and 2004, with Kyle XY (Seattle) and Eureka (Oregon) premiering in 2006, The Secret Circle (Washington) and Grimm (Portland) in 2011, Continuum (Vancouver, BC) and Gravity Falls (Oregon) in 2012, iZombie (Seattle on television/Eugene, OR in the original graphic novels) in 2015, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (Seattle) and Travelers (unclear, but somewhere near Olympia/Seattle/Portland) in 2016, and both Siren (Washington) and The Crossing (Coastal Oregon and Seattle) this spring. Rick and Morty, recently renewed for [checks notes] one billion more seasons, (apocryphally) takes the Seattle exurbs as its rare Earth-based setting.

So, sure, a terrestrial sci-fi/fantasy/horror/monster show could be set anywhere across the continent—The Originals and True Blood have made stellar use of Louisiana’s inherent spookiness, while Wynonna Earp and Warehouse 13 find barren mysticism in the high desert plains, and The Vampire Diaries and Falling Skies mine the bleak colonial magic of Virginia and New England—but based on sheer volume alone, it’s increasingly those sweet, sweet coastal range breezes that keep sounding their siren song. Even the short-lived MTV/Spike adaptation of The Shannara Chronicles (2016-2017), full as it was with elves and orcs and magic trees and in zero evident need of ties to a recognizable contemporary setting, was set in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest several millennia in the future.

So what is it, exactly, about the Pacific Northwest that has put it in such a genre-defining position?

The most prosaic answer is that Vancouver (British Columbia) is such a booming industry town—at the time of publication, there are 19 movies and television series filming in Vancouver; 62 have wrapped since 2018 began—that it makes as much sense to force a series’ setting to match Vancouver-like locations as not. But the PNW setting isn’t limited to live-action series, and the majority of the projects filming in Vancouver, spec-fic or otherwise, aren’t set in the PNW, so there must be other factors at work. Which means [adjusts Dipper Pines conspiracy hat] it’s time for some theories.

Theory 1: Go West, Young Man

California has the earned reputation as the romanticized ideal at the far end of the myth of the American West (in which, according to scholar Richard Slotkin, America is seen as “a wide-open land of unlimited opportunity for the strong, ambitious, self-reliant individual to thrust his way to the top”) but the formative computer game of 1990s kids’ youths wasn’t called The California Trail: it was called The Oregon Trail. Oregon—and by geographic extension, Washington and Vancouver—was as wide-open and promising a frontier for pioneers and 19th-century mythmakers as was California, just with a topography shrouded in dense mossed forests and rain rather than blessed by sun and friendly, endless surf.

That is, the Pacific Northwest contains all the possibility of self-reinvention and the discovery of untold riches that California does, just framed by a mist and mystery that takes what in California becomes bustling creative, industrial, and technological output and instead twists it into a proliferation of supernatural poppycock.

Enter, the disorientingly surreal possibility barely contained in Twin Peaks’ borders. Enter, the surreally familiar possibility bursting from Gravity Falls’ seams.

“Everything in the Mystery Shack is some form of smoke and mirrors and general hokum,” Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch told The Oregonian in 2012. “It’s a boring day job and serves as a point of ironic contrast to the fact that the real magic and mystery is all outside in the woods.”

Theory 2: KeepItWeird

Stuck between the Cascades and the Pacific, Oregon and Washington’s cultural capitals—Eugene, Salem, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle—have developed aggressively quirky personalities. Eugene is where hippies go to die. Portland is where young people go to retire (Portlandia is basically a documentary). Seattle is notoriously proud of its counterculture history, despite being a contemporary corporate mecca. If there was ever going to be a region of the country that demanded co-identification with the supernatural weirdos of the world, that would so readily accept a secret DOD-funded town housing the world’s maddest mad scientists, or a holistic detective agency run by a British weirdo in a bright yellow leather jacket, or a major city being overrun by non-feral zombies and taken over by a zombie-led black ops organization and policed by a zombie-staffed police force whose resident zombies eat murder victims’ brains and overdramatically take on the biggest parts of their personalities, costumes and accents and all, it would be the PNW.

New Seattle: the most believable thing currently happening on iZombie.

Theory 3: A Land of Opposites

While the PNW shows that have taken over genre television in the past decade mostly keep to the bigger foothills cities, there are enough that are set on the coast or in the wilderness that it’s clear that the inherent oppositeness of the region is a major factor in its genre-defining role. Mountains and ocean, high plains and dense forests, the rural and the metropolitan, the super progressive and the super conservative—all of these things exist in the Pacific Northwest (with both hopeful and infuriatingly shameful consequences), and the natural tensions those opposites create in reality are reflected in the supernatural tensions that speculative fic stories aim to illuminate.

While it had plenty of storytelling flaws, it was this tension that made NBC’s Grimm such a compelling series, taking those opposites native to the PNW region and framing them with all the violence, moral grayness, and conflicting identity issues inherent to fairy tales. Portland doesn’t actually have wesin “others” living among its human citizens in all those great (real!) Portland craftsman homes, but in a state so historically, shamefully, violently exclusive with such passionately progressive modern politics, it definitely could. The same goes for all the many time travel series that land (literally) in the PNW: For all the region feels like it’s on the socio-cultural vanguard, it has some real out-of-time conservatism.

Theory 4: Spook-Adjacent Dreariness

At the end of it all, though, is just the utter spookiness of seemingly eternal clouds and rain. That’s nothing to sneeze at! Seattle has upwards of 160 days of rain per year. Portland and Eugene (full disclosure: home of an alma mater) are nearly as dreary. This makes for an explosion of verdant vibrancy in the summers, but the rest of the year…

Well, let’s just say a pod of rat-chomping fish-girls coming ashore to steal Huskies’ sweatshirts off clotheslines and terrorize the local population doesn’t sound impossible.

While most of these series repping the PNW have been relegated to television history by now (including, most recently, The Crossing), Siren, iZombie, and Travelers are all still with us, and if the snowballing of the trend continues, they’ll just be joined by more down the road. And while I certainly wouldn’t want all speculative fiction to go the way of the Bigfoot, I definitely look forward to watching it continue to grow and KeepItWeird with the evolving PNW identity.

Siren airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform. iZombie airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on The CW. Travelers is now streaming on Netflix.

Lumberjanes, created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn Allen, and Noelle Stevenson, is turning 50 in May. Not 50 years. 50 issues. But in the modern comic book industry, where reboots lurk around every corner, 50 issues is a big deal! To celebrate, BOOM! Studios is going to party like only the comic book industry knows how to copy: with variant covers. Lumberjanes #50 features a main cover by Kat Leyh, two connecting variant covers by Veronica Fish, and the pièce de résistance, a wraparound foil variant cover that contains both of the other two Veronica Fish variant covers in one decadent masterpiece.

In a press release, BOOM! boasts of the impressive achievements of Lumberjanes, which has sold nearly a million copies worldwide and “brought countless new fans to comics.” BOOM! touted Lumberjanes‘ New York Times best-seller status, its GLAAD nominations, its Eisner wins, its merchandising expansion, and a Fox film deal. Lumberjanes #50 will be oversized, and here’s what you can expect:

In LUMBERJANES #50, from writers Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh and artists Dozerdraws & Brooklyn Allen, join April, Mal and Ripley as they make several very cool and also pretty gross discoveries deep in the tunnels beneath the Mess Hall. Up above in the civilized world, Jo and Molly join Emily, Diane, and the Zodiac cabin for a fun and totally chill game of total world conquest! This issue also contains a special short story illustrated by Brooklyn Allen.

“It remains stunning that the series has made it this far. I’m humbled every day by the chance that we’ve been given because readers embraced and loved this series and these characters. What a gift, what a journey,” said Shannon Watters in the press release. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“We would not have been able to make it to fifty issues of Lumberjanes if it wasn’t for the readers that have found, read, and supported the book. This comic is a labor of love comic born of love – for best friends, for making memories and, most importantly, for who you are inside,” said BOOM! editor Dafna Pleban. “We’re celebrating 50 issues of friendship in the way that only Mal, Ripley, Molly, April and Jo can…which means LUMBERJANES #50 is gonna be unlike any anniversary comic you’ve ever read.”

The issue hits stores in May. Check out the covers at the link.

Are you in desperate need of 90’s nostalgia? Do you miss the days of power couple Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang Josh and Alicia Silverstone’s Cher in the hit movie Clueless? Well your thirst may be quenched soon, as BOOM! Studios plans to release “Clueless: One Last Summer,” a sequel to “Clueless: Senior Year,” according to a press release. The book will reunite the creative team behind the first series, namely writers Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “The Witches of Echo Park”, “Death’s Daughter”) and Sarah Kuhn (“Heroine Complex”, “Barbie”), and artist Siobhan Keenan (“Adventure Time”). Natacha Bustos (“Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy”) will provide the cover art.

In CLUELESS: ONE LAST SUMMER, Cher, Dionne and Tai journey out for their final summer vacation before they head off to college and the world of adulthood. However when life threatens to topple their elaborate plans for the summer to remember, they’ll be challenged to stay true to their best selves amidst the chaos. Luckily they’ve got each other to lean on, because that’s what best friends are for… and because no one stops Cher when she makes up her mind!

Benson said she’s excited to be reunited with the creative team, adding “I feel like when the three of us work together there is a real synergy that makes Cher, Dionne, and Tai’s world come alive. This next installment of the Clueless comic is all about what happens in the summer before the ladies head off to college – and it will be chock full of the good stuff: friendship, romance, and mystery… with a heavy dose of that ’90s Clueless nostalgia that makes the comic so much fun.”

Sarah Kuhn also expressed her excitement, saying “I am also really loving getting the chance to explore a character who I adore, but hasn’t gotten much of a spotlight yet in the Clueless-verse: Summer, who was played in the movie by the great Nicole Bilderback. Summer’s presence as an amazingly-dressed Asian girl who got to be part of Cher’s cool crowd was always super important to me and I am thrilled to say she has a big part in this book.” Artist Siobhan Keenan also enthusiastically said, “I know I’m going to have a great time drawing Cher, Dionne, and Tai’s summer adventures—and I’m so excited to draw and explore new characters, too! Summer vacation is always a memorable time, so it’ll be a dream to dress up everyone in memorable outfits, too.”

“Clueless: One More Summer” will be published under BOOM! Studios’ award-winning BOOM! Box imprint, which has launched several popular original series such as “Lumberjanes” by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn Allen, and Noelle Stevenson. BOOM! Studios editor Shannon Watters said “I’m thrilled that we get to reunite the amazing women, both on the page and behind the story, to explore even more stories with Cher, Dionne and Tai at BOOM! Box.”

“Clueless: One More Summer” will debut sometime in the fall of 2018. As always, for more info head over to Boom! Studoios website.

Moving from New York City to Eerie, Indiana was hard enough for Michael and Michele. After all, they were in high school, had lots of friends, and they loved the City and all its activity. Now their parents were making them move to Indiana? Ugh! How would they ever adjust to small town life? Little did they know...it would become much harder than they could have ever imagined.

You see soon after moving to Eerie, the kids would find something...something that would change their lives forever...something buried...in the basement of their new house. What was it? How did it get there? What will happen when they dig it up?

Find out the answer to these questions, and more, as you solve the mystery along with Michael and Michele in What Happened to Kerbie Walobee?, a new thriller from Shamara S. Davis.

As the Nintendo Switch continues to be a success, its library fills slowly but surely with new titles- some official Nintendo IP installments, some third parties, and more often, independent games! Indie developers taking their projects to mainstream consoles isn’t by any means unheard of, but more often than not we only hear of the smash hits that secure big business deals; such examples being Toby Fox’s Undertale, which released on Steam September 2015 and made its way into the hearts of millions and eventually onto the PS4 and PSVita, and Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight, which started out on Steam in June 2014 and later found itself not only released onto Xbox One, PS3/4, Nintendo 3DS and WiiU, and even FireTV, but the game got its very own amiibos! This was the first of its kind, an indie title getting Nintendo-licensed collectable figures with in-game goodies attached.

These days, however, more and more indie developers are putting their content on the Nintendo Switch, a console that, according to Polygon’s Ben Kuchera, has eclipsed its predecessor’s entire lifetime of hardware sales. I personally have now found two strong independent titles I knew prior come onto Nintendo’s handheld-home console mashup…

1. Night in the Woods

This quirky, queer-friendly 2D platformer focuses on Mae Borowski, a troubled feline college dropout that returns to her sleepy hometown to find everything is changing, friends are growing out of her old shenanigans, and some crytic signs say terrible things are on the horizon.

A dear friend of mine became absolutely enthralled by this game; so I was not only intrigued by the solid art design, but by how it managed to capture the heart of one of the only people I know who hardly touches video games, much less has interest in them. I myself play and enjoy games based on the following, starting with the most important elements: Story, art, primary gameplay, mechanical creativity, and technical options. Somewhere in that mix I want to see love and/or effort poured into it and Night in the Woods definitely has that. Quite frankly, it’s the perfect title to give someone who might just be getting started with video games! The gameplay itself is challenging, but so far it seems to me that even if you’re terrible at the Guitat-Hero-esque band segments or tossing pierogis into a fox’s mouth, the game won’t withhold anything; or at least nothing you notice. The platforming is a must, but with a bit of practice it’s a fun little challenge. Additionally, this story does a good job at being relatable, even if you haven’t had all the same experiences.

Even if you’ve just been good friends with someone from a small town or that has depression or isn’t quite straight and they’re the tiniest minority, you really feel for these characters. They each do crummy things that aren’t justified by their emotions, but those emotions are valid and the feelings/actions are, ironically, very humanizing to this work of fiction. Furthermore, there’s a slow-building intrigue throughout with a mystery that makes the entire game give me a Gravity Falls vibe, although this story is much darker and swearing is used frequently. So it’s almost a more grown up version of Alex Hirsch’s heartfelt mystery series. With animal people. (Another friend of mine likes to describe Night In The Woods as “Animal Crossing” with depression, but there’s much more going on here than that, trust me.)

Full disclosure: I haven’t finished this game yet. Additionally, there has been an issue reported with some Switch consoles in which the left joycon does not properly lock into the console, resulting in easy dislodging and the system to occasionally act as though you’re lightly holding the joystick to the right, resulting in player characters to walk to the right. I have experienced this a number of times with both Night In The Woods and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, however it does not impede my gameplay or enjoyment of either one. (I strongly recommend both, in fact!)

2. Crawl

Here we have a much more… violent indie title. Crawl is, as you might have guested, a co-op dungeon crawler, but there’s a great twist- Up to four people can play, but only one can be the sole survivor. A single human in the insidious caverns, plagued by the spirits of his former comrades. In short, it’s a horror-themed beat-’em-up version of tag. Whoever reaches the dungeon exit as the survivor wins the round… but not without engorging the wrath of the spirits that follow him; literally. The more Wrath Points you earn, the more you can upgrade your dungeon monsters. It’s a fairly simple model that doesn’t quite have a story, but it’s absolutely dripping with detail and character. There’s a deep, unsettling urgency about it all, especially when you find yourself resurrected as the survivor. Your very goal, once achieved, then turns around to be your greatest danger.

The game is perfect for the Switch as, whether you’re going through standard dungeon modes, fighting big bosses, or just challenging monsters in the bonus section, you only have two buttons and a joystick. It’s a very easy gameplay style to pick up, so it’s great for parties, casual group hangouts, and introducing the less gaming-inclined to a fun, fast-paced trial with a dark, vengeful twist.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang are returning to Paper Girls, their Eisner Award-winning ongoing series from Image Comics, bringing its planned four-month hiatus to a close. Arriving from the past (Or is it the future?) on October 4, Paper Girls 16 continues to feature socially significant, science fiction storytelling from Vaughan and Chiang, as well as colors by Matt Wilson and letters and designs by Jared Fletcher.

Ahead of the girls’ return, CBR connected with Vaughan and Chiang to discuss the critically acclaimed, New York Times best-selling series. The superstar creative team shared an Apple-infused bushel of details about the ongoing adventures of Erin, Mac, Tiffany and KJ, not to mention the forthcoming hardcover collection of the series’ first ten issues, which arrives on November 1.

Vaughan, who teased that they knew how long the series would run, but wouldn’t spill the beans on how many issues that is, talked about why pop culture has recently embraced the 1980s. Meanwhile, Chiang revealed how Yohji Yamamoto’s sports Y-3 fashion designs for Adidas and mecha giants like Transformers, Gundam and Evangelion have influenced the art of their fan-favorite comic.

CBR: Please don’t take this the wrong way, because it’s part of what I love most about Paper Girls, but it’s always felt like you’re no hurry to explain what the hell is happening to Erin, Mac, Tiffany and KJ. But if we can believe the solicitations for Paper Girls 17, it appears that’s all about to change.

Brian K. Vaughan: Since our very first issue, we’ve been planting clues for the amateur detectives and cryptology fans out there who wanted to solve the mystery that’s been at the heart of our story, but we also recognized that the vast majority of readers would probably be as… let’s say ‘mystified’ as our young heroes have been. But with this next storyline, the Paper Girls meet a new character who will explicitly reveal what the hell has been happening in the strange suburb of Stony Stream.

Hollywood’s more interested in the ’80s than ever, with properties like Stranger Things, GLOW and It ambitiously set in the era, a decade not traditionally celebrated for its cultural significance. Is the common thread here that many top creators working today – you both included – grew up in the 1980s, or is something else here to consider?

Vaughan: I think whatever kind of adult you end up being is largely formed in the year that you were 12; for Cliff and me, that happened to be in the 1980s. But I also think that’s when the seeds were planted for the cultural and political forest many of us seem to be lost in today, so I think it’s an era that feels relevant to people, regardless of when they were born.

Cliff Chiang: Jumping around in time, whether it’s the 1980s, 11,000 BCE, or even 2016, gives us perspective on where we are now, and that’s one of the best things about science fiction.

Paper Girls is driven by powerful, predominantly young, women. Are there women in your lives that have inspired these characters because they all feel very real?

Vaughan: Definitely, but like all fictional characters I’ve helped to create, they’re a combination of real people I love, personal experience and shit I just made up. I respect that not everyone agrees with this, but I think writers have a responsibility to imagine and portray people who might not seem like us on the surface, and do our best to understand and identify with them.

Chiang: Part of making any character believable is drawing from reality. Memories of friends from junior high, the clothing and hairstyles – all of that goes into the mixing bowl to make something new. I thought of them as girls I might have gone to school with, which helps me approach drawing them as real people.

junior high, the clothing and hairstyles – all of that goes into the mixing bowl to make something new. I thought of them as girls I might have gone to school with, which helps me approach drawing them as real people.

In Paper Girls 11, readers were introduced to Wari, a young mother running from the three terrible men who impregnated her. That in and of itself is a crazy reveal but to me, the more significant storytelling is that Wari believes that her child, Jahpo, is basically her ‘replacement’ in the life cycle. While this concept is difficult for some to digest, it is clearly downright despicable for young girls raised in the days of Ronald Reagan and Alex P. Keaton.

Vaughan: Most latchkey kids in the 1980s were way more independent and less sheltered than the average North American kid today, but I wanted to challenge our protagonists by having them confront a girl their age from prehistory, when life was almost incomprehensibly nasty, brutish and short. I love what a richly badass, three-dimensional human Cliff created with the character of Wari, and she has a very important role in our larger narrative.

Cliff, can you please talk about the look and feel of Wari, Jahpo and the three not-so-wisemen because I concur with Brian, they’re fantastic.

Chiang: We’re lucky that we don’t know that much about what people may have looked like in the Upper Paleolithic era, so we felt free to make stuff up. Brian had asked for some distinctive face paint on Wari, but we didn’t want to evoke or insult real indigenous cultures so I took inspiration from electronic diagrams and circuit boards. Wari and the three men are all scavenging futuristic devices that fall through the portals, so the face and body paint is a visual reminder of how important these items are to them.

The space-helmeted leader was Brian’s clever idea, and I added the ubiquitous power symbol for more visual flair and to denote hierarchy over the other guys, who we later named ‘Stop’ and ‘Play.’ Given their more active lifestyles, they’re all super fit, but it was especially fun to draw Wari with a more muscular physique, like an Olympic gymnast. It reminds you how difficult and physically demanding her daily life is.

Jahpo has been discussed heavily in the social media, the forums and Reddit and you’ve teased yourselves that he has been seen before. Obviously, you are not going to reveal who he is or who he will become – unless you want to! – but can you talk about fans of the series and how the nearly universal positive response to Paper Girls has fueled the adventures of Erin, Mac, Tiffany and KJ?

Vaughan: Thanks! I try not to pay too much attention to how people respond to our work, but I’m very grateful that we seem to have found a healthy enough audience to tell our complete story. Cliff and I are working towards a pretty spectacular ending we’ve had in mind since our series began, and thanks to the ongoing support of readers, it looks like we’ll be able to reach it, which is definitely never a guarantee in the world of creator-owned comics.

We also recently met Qanta Braunstein – who majestically blesses the cover of Paper Girls, Volume 3 alongside Wari and Jahpo – in Paper Girls 11, yet another strong female character. I love the Project Leader of AppleX and if you were ever going to do a spinoff title, I would be first in line for an origin series starring Qanta. Are we going to learn more about the past, present and future of the woman who invented time travel or was screaming “Run” to the girls in the final pages of Paper Girls 15 the last that we’ve seen of her?

Vaughan: One of the best parts of doing a time-travel story is that there will always be opportunities to revisit characters from the past, so I think it’s safe to say we haven’t seen the last of Doctor Braunstein.

The kiss. I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the foreshadowed embrace of Mac and KJ. Are the events KJ experienced by touching the floating pyramid from the fourth dimension in Paper Girls 14 actual happenings coming to the pages of Paper Girls or are these all just possible futures?

Vaughan: Well, there are no alternate timelines in our story, so if something has happened, or will happen, it’s always happened… right?

Chiang: [Laughs] And it was such a sweet moment to draw. In my mind, it was each their first kiss, so it was important to convey a kind of tentativeness to the physical action even though it’s decisive emotionally. But it also needed to have some romance too, and that’s where Matt Wilson knocked it out of the park. That crazy Vanilla Sky sunset is like a classic orchestral swell, giving us the feeling the body language might not convey.

KJ went full Xena in Paper Girls 15, literally crushing the competition. This is one of the most violent acts depicted in the series to date. Should we have seen this level of rage from her coming or has something changed with her since touching the pyramid?

Vaughan: I’m not sure if it was rage as much as it was brutal pragmatism. KJ has always been willing to do whatever it takes to protect her friends, but this was the first time that she was forced to make a real life-or-death decision. Her actions that issue will definitely have a major impact on KJ moving forward.

When Paper Girls 15 comes to a close, Tiff is stranded in a Year 2000, where Y2K actually happened. “The nerds were right.” I loved this sequence but am most jazzed about the giant robots. Ultraman, Iron Giant, Optimus Prime, I love giant robots! What can you share about the giant robots of this post-Y2K, Year 2000?

Chiang: We’ll see which faction these robots belong to, as well as their counterparts. It was a blast to design them though, especially extrapolating things we’ve shown in the previous issues. The big red robot is meant to evoke classic toys and animation, Transformers and Gundam, stuff like that. There’s a certain utilitarianism and lived-in quality to them: vents, hatches, tubes. Their enemies are a little less practical looking, with more emphasis on cleaner visuals while evoking the more sinister feel of Evangelion.

As mentioned, the last arc had a heavy focus on Mac and KJ and it appears Tiff is going to be front and center when the next arc opens. The series really started with Erin. What can we expect from her – and her future self – moving forward?

Vaughan: We wanted each arc to spotlight a different girl in a different era, and while it will be Tiffany’s time to shine in the year 2000, each member of our quartet continues to evolve. Erin is no longer the ‘new kid’ of the group, and her past encounter with her future self really changed the way this shy, anxious kid interacts with both her peers and the rest of the world.

In November, we are getting the first hardcover volume of Paper Girls. Solicitations tease we are getting bonus material in the oversized, deluxe format edition. Can you share what will be included and how much fun did you have putting this new collection together?

Chiang: It hasn’t been that long since Paper Girls 1 came out, but it was cool to look back at the first two arcs and see how the story, the characters, and the style have evolved. I’m really proud of this collection and it’s been a labor of love. [Letterer and designer] Jared Fletcher’s done a fantastic job with it, especially all the design material in the bonus section: 30 pages of sketches, designs and process. And to fit the larger, wider hardcover format, we had to re-master some 160 pages of art so nothing would be cropped. It’s really a beautiful presentation and I’m excited for people to see it!

Paper Girls 16 is available October 4. Paper Girls, Book One, Hardcover Edition, collecting 1-10, arrives on November 1.

As far as original content goes, Amazon Video has struggled to keep up with Netflix’s vast library of game-changing shows. They’ve also fallen behind Hulu in terms of awards recognition, what with The Handmaid’s Tale dominating the Emmys. Nevertheless, Amazon has still left its mark on the streaming scene with shows like Mozart in the Jungle, The Man in the High Castle, and of course Transparent. Interestingly enough, though, some of their best material isn’t exclusively aimed at adults, but at family audiences.

Over the past several years, television has brought us a plethora of brilliant shows primarily aimed at kids, including Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls. Of course one thing those three shows have in common is that they’re all animated. Meanwhile, live-action kids shows generally comes off as lazy and uninspired. That’s not the case with Amazon, which has delivered a slew of inventive, engaging live-action programs for families, from Just Add Magic to The Kicks. The best of the best would have to be a lost treasure called Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street.

When I say “best of the best,” I don’t just mean the best Amazon kids show. I mean the best original show on Amazon Video period. If I had to name my personal favorite steaming service shows overall, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street would be right up there with Stranger Things and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Yet, whenever I recommend this gem to people, I always get the same questions: “How come I’ve never heard of that show?” “What’s it about?” “Why is it so special?”

I can’t give a definitive answer to first question, although the marketing might be the most obvious reason why the show didn’t find a larger audience. As for what it’s about, the series naturally revolves around Gortimer and his friends as they have various adventures on Normal Street. Just as Regular Show is anything but regular, Normal Street is anything but normal. As for why it’s so special, where do I begin?

Like the main character’s name, the series is quirky and utterly unique. As fantastic as Gortimer’s life is, there’s also a layer of brutal reality that sneaks up on the audience. Many episodes start out like a daydream: lighthearted, whimsical, fun. While some stories build up to a happy ending, others force us to accept the challenging fact that life doesn’t always work out the way we want. There’s a certain point in our childhoods where anything seems possible and another point where we realize that there’s not going to be an easy solution to everything. Somewhere in between these two points, you get Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street.

David Anaxagoras’ creation is often compared to Eerie, Indiana and The Adventures of Pete and Pete. To me, the show that it has the most in common with is The Twilight Zone. While Gortimer isn’t an anthology series, its colorful world makes leeway for countless scenarios. While The Twilight Zone is often remembered for aliens and pig-nosed people, each episode had something meaningful to say about humanity. Something similar can be said about Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, which encompasses both the magic of childhood and the raw honesty of childhood.

Beyond that, it’s hard to talk about why the show is so special without zooming in on some key storylines. So here are the Top 10 Episodes! Keep in mind that there will be a few spoilers ahead, so maybe just stop reading this article and go watch the show:
10.Gortimer, Mel, Ranger, Catherine and the Student Identity Crisis

As strong as the writing and directing was, this show never would’ve succeeded without its gifted young cats. This episode allows everyone a chance to play against type, as a student ID card machine creates a fiasco right out of Freaky Friday. The body swap setup not only amounts to some great comedy, but also some strong character development that makes everyone feel more fleshed out by the end.
9.Ranger and the Legend of Pendragon’s Gavel

Although Mel is clearly the most qualified candidate for student council president, everyone begins to aimlessly follow Ranger, whose victory appears to be tied to a strange gavel. Gortimer and the gang come across a variety of mystical trinkets throughout the series and the gavel has one of the most legendary backstories, making for one of the show’s most humorous and creative outings.
8.Gortimer and the Surprise Signature

After finding a signature on his cast from someone named Abigail, Gortimer sets out to put a face to the name. This episode not only delivers an engaging mystery, but also marks the beginning of a legitimately cute romance. While Gortimer and Abigail might not live happily every after, their ongoing relationship over the show’s course truly captures the sensation of first love.
7.Gortimer and the Mystical Mind Eraser

When Gortimer is lead to believe that Mel has a crush on him, he decides to acquire a mind-erasing pencil to salvage their friendship. However, he has a change of heart after meeting the pencil’s owner (Luke Matheny, also the episode’s writer), who has erased so many bad memories that he can barley function in the world. Much like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this episode wisely demonstrates why some of the most painful memories are also the most important.
6.The Mystery of the Blood Moon Eclipse

In honor of the blood moon eclipse, Mel invites the gang over for a slumber party to swap scary stories. When an eerie presence emerges, though, the sleepover becomes a ghost story in itself. This episode will keep you guessing from start to finish, complete with a chilling buildup and a clever payoff.
5.The Mystery of the Marlow Mansion

Like the previous episode, this episode sucks the audience in with its wonderful sense of mystery and doesn’t let us down with its final destination. At a whodunit party, Gortimer’s friends are taken over by the personas of their characters. The only way to restore everyone back to normal is to narrow down the suspects and find the culprit behind a robbery. Think Clue Jr., but with an inspired twist.
4.Gortimer vs. the Relentless Rainbow of Joy

For much of the first season, Gortimer’s dad is only mentioned in passing. This episode provides a deeper look at their relationship and the results will resonate with any child that’s been effected by divorce. Although he loves his children, Gortimer’s father has an important, demanding job that requires him to be away. When a rainbow hits Normal Streets, however, he’s motivated quit his job and spend more time with his family. While this seems like a dream come true, Gortimer soon comes to learn that sometimes we need to sacrifice our happiness for the greater good. The lesson at the end of this rainbow might be bittersweet, but it’s one every young adult should take to heart.
3.Gortimer, Ranger and Mel vs. the Endless Night

There are some moments we want to last forever. When Gortimer, Ranger, and Mel wish for their camping trip to never end, they find themselves in a perpetual state of childhood innocence. The longer they stay in this time loop, though, they begin to realize that life isn’t about standing still. It’s about moving forward, even if we’re afraid of what’s to come.

2.Mel vs. the Future

This show was never afraid to tackle heavy issues, but it came as a complete shock when Mel found out that her mother died. In the same vein of The Bridge to Terabithia, Mel vs. the Future is a haunting and authentic depiction of how children respond to death. That might sound odd, seeing how the episode also incorporates time travel into the mix. Even with the element of sci-fi, however, Mel’s emotional journey couldn’t be more relatable, as she endures the five stages of grief. Devastating, poignant, and not condescending in the least, it’s an episode that hits the audience hard and leaves you reaching for the tissue box.

1.Gortimer vs. The End

With Gortimer’s last day on Normal Street looming, the trio that started it all decides to put their most treasured mementos in a time capsule, leading to several fun callbacks. The time capsule comes to represent everything Gortimer has to let go of in order to move on. As difficult as this proves for Gortimer and his friends, they ultimately discover that the memories they made will last forever. Even then, however, saying goodbye is never easy and this episode epitomizes why. Just as Gortimer isn’t ready to bid Normal Street farewell, neither is the audience. As Gortimer rides off to his new life, we’re reminded why this shows deserved to last so much longer than two seasons. At the same time, though, at least we can take comfort in the fact that the series didn’t overstay its welcome and ended on just the right note.

Com certeza a maioria das pessoas que estiverem lendo isto, já assistiram ou ouviram falar de "Stranger Things", série produzida pela Netflix que fez enorme sucesso em 2016. A série surpreendeu a todos por trazer diversas referências a filmes e séries antigas, mas por incrível que possa parecer não se trata de algo inédito numa série de TV.

Lá em 1991 os roteiristas José Rivera e Karl Schaefer criaram a série "Eerie, Indiana", que a exemplo de "Strangers Things" abordava jovens envolvidos com fenômenos estranhos e inexplicáveis. Porém no caso de "Eerie, Indiana" não foi uma pessoa que acidentalmente fez com que criaturas do 'universo inverso' soubessem do nosso, Eerie era o centro de todas as 'esquisitices' dos EUA, segundo o personagem principal Marshall Teller...

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