(courtesy First Showing (c) AppleTV+) SNAPSHOTSnoopy Presents: A Summer Musical is a musical special about the joy and magic of summer camp and the importance of preserving what you love. Charlie Brown loves camp and is determined to make his final year special, but Sally, a first-time camper, is nervous Continue Reading
Comics
Movie review: The Fantastic Four: First Steps
(courtesy IMP Awards) Most superhero movies, if you look beyond the bangs and the booms and the epic struggles for curdely painted yet titanic struggles between god and evil, are about connection. Friendship, camaraderies, even family figure strongly, even with figures like Batman or Iron Man who might otehrwise be Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Appearances, as we all know and have been instructed about repeatedly, can be deceiving. For one reason or another, people project one thing while living quite another, a white lie in most cases that avoids emotional entanglement, vulnerability or the need to share in something that Continue Reading
Comic strip review: Sunday Funday Wallace by Will Henry
(courtesy Simon & Schuster) SNAPSHOTA visual celebration of one of the most dynamic and imaginative comics since Calvin and Hobbes, this deluxe hardcover treasury celebrates includes every Wallace the Brave Sunday comic strip from 2018-2024, featuring original watercolors, character art, maps, and an introduction by the author. This book celebrates Continue Reading
Comic strip review: Crabgrass Comic Adventures Vol. 1 by Tauhid Bondia
(courtesy Andrews McMeel Publishing) We’ve all been there – innocently browsing through an online store when suddenly, or not so suddenly since they are stalking us every step of our impulsive shopping ways, the resident algorithm decides you MUST have a certain title. These sorts of insistent suggestions can be Continue Reading
PAF! BAM! TCHAC! Thoughts on Asterix and Obelix: The Big Fight (Astérix et Obélix : Le Combat des chefs)
(courtesy IMP Awards) One thing that struck me, even as a kid when I first came across the Asterix (Astérix or Astérix le Gaulois) series of stories courtesy of my very progressive, globally conscious local country town library, was how fun the creators writer René Goscinny (1959–1977)/Albert Uderzo (1980–2009) and Continue Reading
Building something … ICONIC: First trailer lands for Ironheart
(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTSet after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel’s Ironheart series pits technology against magic when Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne)—a young, genius inventor determined to make her mark on the world—returns to her hometown of Chicago. Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: I Heart Skull-Crusher! by Campbell/Zonno/De Santiago
(courtesy BOOM! STUDIOS) SNAPSHOT18-year-old Trini will do anything to compete in her favorite sport, Screaming Pain Ball, aspiring to the heights of her longtime hero Skull-Crusher! But she can’t do it alone, and a gaggle of misfits is just what she needs to cross the American wastes and battle in Continue Reading
“Every family has dark secrets, Wednesday … and secrets can have deadly consequences” Wednesday S2 has a long-awaited first trailer
(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTWednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega), returns to prowl the Gothic halls of Nevermore Academy, where fresh foes and woes await. This season, Wednesday must navigate family, friends and old adversaries, propelling her into another year of delightfully dark and kooky mayhem. Armed with her signature razor-sharp wit and Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures by Jason Pamment
(courtesy Allen & Unwin Book Publishers) I can still remember how incredibly isolating and alone it felt to be bullied continuously and mercilessly during 13 long years of school. Like anyone under constant attack by bullies, I alternated between crushing despair, near-palpable loneliness and a sense that no one would Continue Reading