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Sunday, July 27, 2025

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 1: Aphra

Title: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 1: Aphra




ISBN: 9781302906771

Price: $17.99

Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2021

Artist:  Kev Walker, Salvador Larroca

Writer: Kieron Gillen


Rating: 3.5/5


For someone who grew up with Star Wars, writing stories that become part of the official canon must be a dream come true. It’s a sure bet Kieron Gillen’s internal child is high-fiving his adult self.

Introduced during Gillen’s run on Darth Vader, rogue archaeologist Doctor Aphra proved popular with readers. So much so she was given her own series when Darth Vader rain its course. After her narrow brush with death, Doctor Chille Lona Aphra has returned to archaeology. Or rather, the acquisition of rare items that can be sold for considerable profit, which with her qualifications and expertise, is lucrative. How she acquires them doesn’t bother her or the criminal organizations she owes credits to. Until she finds out the authenticity of her doctorate is being questioned and temporarily suspended. Aphra isn’t concerned about accusations of cheating. Of course, she did. What she wants to know is: who told them? This puts her in even more debt, her finds so much more difficult to sell. Aphra is livid, more so when she discovers it was dear old dad who leaked the info. He can get it reinstated off course. If she helps him find a place he has been searching for his whole life. A legend that consumed him and drove his family away. If she helps she gets her life back. With crime cartels, Imperial soldiers and dangerous uncharted space ahead, it’s likely she’ll be killed. Can she even trust her father? Fortunately, she has the dangerous wookie Black Krrsantan making sure she stays alive long enough to pay off her debt to him. And there’s also the two deadliest droids in the galaxy, Triple Zero, and BeeTee, tagging along. They come in handy for things like assassinations, explosions, and dismemberment. What could possibly go wrong?

On the face of it, Aphra shouldn’t work. Aphra herself is a female hybrid of Han Solo blended with Indiana Jones. Krrsantan is a far less honorable version of Chewbacca. Triple Zero and Beetee are both the psychopathic opposites of droids C3-P0 and R2-D2. Its so obvious the story is an inverse to the original Star Wars saga. Yet it does work, and rather well thanks to Gillen’s script and art from Kev Walker. Aphra is redolent of Indiana Jones – dark gritty themes balanced by humor and action. The plot’s familiar from other Star Wars formats, but with a high fun factor. Aphra is believable as a rebellious twenty-something with a chip on her shoulder, and the dialogue is witty, treacle black yet well timed.

Walker’s art lacks the glossy blockbuster style Marvel usually employs, with strong elements of his Judge Dredd work, more obvious in the gangsters and creatures. Walker uses digital overlays on his art, spectacularly detailed backgrounds contrasting the simple. Starships and droids look fantastic, the environment of cantinas and university convincing. Initially, human expressions are not clear but quickly improve. The plot falters in points, the dialogue disjointed by some of Gillen’s ideas. Yet whatever emotions the characters experience, you believe they are feeling them. The adventure is fast, the moods and tension just right. It’s good work from Walker, making the series more personable and enjoyable.

Deviating from the core content is a bold step forward for Marvel. It captures the adventurous spirit and imagination of the Dark Horse years that revived the franchise. Aphra is fun and entertaining, getting more right than wrong. Doctor Aphra returns to Star Wars in crossover event The Screaming Citadel, while Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Chew Vol 10: Blood Puddin'

Title: Chew Vol 10: Blood Puddin'




ISBN: 9781632153968

Price: $14.99

Publisher/Year: Image, 2015

Artist: Rob Guillory

Writer: John Layman


Rating: 3.5/5


Since the earliest volumes Tony Chu has been plagued by the Collector, an uber-villain who by hook, but mostly crook, has been acquiring the food-related super powers of numerous others, using a network of spies to locate them. Chu knows the Collector is a formidably dangerous foe, and is also aware of the exact time he’ll be brought down. You’ll have to read Family Recipes to find out how. In the previous Chicken Tenders a group of off-duty FDA agents accompanied by Olive Chu, Tony’s teenage daughter, attempted to take the Collector down. With disastrous consequences.

Seeing as how John Colby was partly responsible, he and Chu have fallen out, which is why Chu is now partnered with temporary FDA agent D-Bear, chicken-eating fashion-plate. It’s a shame as Colby has come up with a viable way to aid the investigation, but can’t persuade Chu to give him the time of day. D-Bear proves more effective than might be imagined from his previous appearances. Still funny, though. Not as laugh out loud funny as the prosthetics supplied to some cast members, but pretty funny.

“It seems this Collector monster is out of control”, relates Agent Breadman, “It seems he’s declared war. Accelerating his collecting. Sending his servants to force everybody with food powers into his service, and killing anyone who resists.” That sums matters up pretty succinctly, as with only two further volumes to go, the end is nigh, and there are no more detours for John Layman’s plots. The cast are diminishing at quite the rate, and another one bites the dust here.

Layman’s concepts are marvelous. We have a thrilling and tense action-adventure story in which it’s not the slightest bit strange that a guy’s strength is increased tenfold by wearing spaghetti. He’s a pastavestavalescor in case you were wondering. Other hilarious and ludicrous elements abound, and if the surprises of the food-based powers have diminished through repetition, the plotting compensates and Rob Guillory’s art repays the purchase price tenfold. One would almost think he was wearing spaghetti on his head such is the joy of his cartooning.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

MtG Decklist - Spice8Rack's Omo | Extra Turns #61

 


I just watched episode #61 of Extra Turns, and I absolutely loved this deck! When I originally started playing Magic the Gathering, I loved the artwork for Vesuvan Doppelganger by artist Quinton Hoover. In fact, I love all of Hoover's art. (I didn't realize until writing this that Hoover died in 2013.)

Above all the other cards, I appreciated the doppelganger's ability to shapeshift and I think that really drew me into enjoying Omo, Queen of Vesuva and the cards abilities.

As I watched the episode, I really got to see Omo work her magic. While Spice8Rack ultimately didn't win (sorry for the spoiler), I felt like the decks mechanics really matched the type of game I enjoy playing. I'm looking forward to building this deck and eventually playing with my friends. If you try this deck out, please let me know how you enjoyed it.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Chew Vol 9: Chicken Tenders

Title: Chew Vol 9: Chicken Tenders




ISBN: 9781632152893

Price: $14.99

Publisher/Year: Image, 2015

Artist: Rob Guillory

Writer: John Layman


Rating: 3.5/5


Just so we’re all on the same page, Chew features a number of people with strange, food-related super powers. Most prominent among them is Tony Chu, a detective for the US Food and Drugs Agency, who along with his food, or in fact anything he eats, ingests a whole lot of background information about its source. This doesn’t apply to beetroot, but, as unsavory as it may seem, it does apply to cannibalism. His partner John Colby has no food-related power, but instead has bionic implants following an accident in the first volume. Family Recipes detailed how they achieved the biggest bust in the FDA’s recent history, in the period since poultry was outlawed after 23 million Americans died in a bird flu epidemic. In that time Chu has discovered many things, not least that the world may end.

John Layman doesn’t want you concerning yourself with that, though. It’s nice outside, and who wants to be depressed? Wouldn’t a nice wedding cheer us all up? Of course it would, so that’s what we get as Chu and Amelia plight their troth in the Hunka-Hunka Burnin’ Love chapel in Las Vegas during the FDA convention. Unfortunately the honeymoon is cut short and the first chapter ends with… Well, actually, it’s been a running joke throughout the series to date that unexpected people end up in bed together, splendidly illustrated by Rob Guillory, and he ends the first chapter with a doozy.

Chu’s then dispatched to a top secret underwater research lab where he needs to discover who murdered Sammy the Navy Seal. It doesn’t matter, though, because in what’s typically hilarious Chew fashion, that’s irrelevant, and elsewhere a broad conspiracy is expanding. Super combat rooster Poyo’s not involved, despite his cover status, as he has a fairytale world to save from a groceryomancer who’s bringing killer vegetables to life. Elsewhere, among other matters, we learn of “the secret discipline where cooking and war intersect”.

Anyone unfamiliar with the lunacy that is Chew may be wondering what the hell they’re reading about here. Then again, they really should get with the program (or wake up and smell the coffee, whichever they prefer) and feast on Chew, the most consistently funny series of graphic novels being published today.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

MtG Decklist - Chatterfang, Squirrel General

 


One of the first decks that my friend created was a squirrel deck. It was for a 60 card format, but it was lethal. Since she created hers, she has made modifications and also helped me to create one of my own. This is the next evolutionary step from 60 card deck to a commander deck.

Originally I had purchased the Chatterfang commander deck from Moonveil Games. It was good enough as it was, but I felt like it needed more. The lethality of this deck is being able to make so many squirrel tokens. In a recent game, I found that there were a couple of infinite loops when generating tokens. Since I play with friends and we are not CEDH players, I made sure my friends were aware of the loop and kept the process to a single interaction of tokens.

Parallel Lives and Doubling Seasons were the main ingredients that I needed to add to make the token generation aspect work effectively. In the afore mentioned game, I had so many squirrel tokens on the battlefield, but it didn't feel like it was enough to be able to win because my opponents not only had higher life totals, but also had bigger blockers to my 1/1 tokens. That all changed when I pulled Preposterous Proportions.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Fairest Vol 4: Of Men and Mice

Title: Fairest Vol 4: Of Men and Mice



ISBN: 978140125058

Price: $14.99

Publisher/Year: Vertigo, 2014

Artist: Shawn McManus

Writer: Marc Andreyko


Rating: 3.5/5


This book kind of passed the Fairest test, which is the requirement that the tales be about women. Cinderella and Snow White were at the heart of the tale, though Marcel, Ramayan, Crispin, and three blind mice, along with Fairy Godmother and Leigh factor largely into the story. This book also hinges a bit on the other Fables tales, particularly the one where they discover that Fairy Godmother has gone bad/has Alzheimer's and the last Fables trade where one of the young girls discovers a bunch of evil rats.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention how excited I got that Cinderella was going to India, and there wasn’t any culture appropriation and we even had Indian Fables, including the fabulous Ramayan, join in. However, there was a cover where Cinderella was portrayed as a Hindu goddess with multiple arms and holding her shoes. Fail.

There was, however, a big win for diversity. Andreyko made Crispin blatantly gay and made the Huntsman his partner. Yay! How many issues of any Fables story did it take before having two gay characters?! Seriously. And it doesn’t go without notice that it was Andreyko, a gay man himself, who made it happen.

I really enjoyed the team up of Cinderella and Dickory together. Seemed like both were greatly underestimated by any of the foes that they went up against. Thought it was hilarious that Fairy Godmother’s guards believed she was meditating. Also that Cinderella and Dickory found her smoking pot in an Amsterdam cafe.

A bit problematic that Fairy Godmother’s dementia was shot away with a bullet. I liked that Snow pointed out how popular Cinderella was as a musical, and that it was at the height of the season.

The whole story about Marcel being the errant rat who stayed human after Fairy Godmother’s spell and loved all the women he slept with. Who then gave birth to his children: human, rat/human hybrid, or rats. Gross. Seriously, glad that the dude stopped on his own and Cinderella gave him shit about putting them up for adoption, taking them to the circus, or letting them go in the wild.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

MtG Decklist - Erebos, God of the Dead

 


I remember playing a game one time and casting Whip of Erebos and thinking what a wonderful card. I ended up doing some research on the character of Erebos and worked on designing a commander deck around him. Here we have the product of that work.

The Tremere had not become a clan

  The classic World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, etc.) has a well developed history ...