Seth Harris

Comic Book Review – The Manhattan Projects Deluxe Book One

The Manhattan Projects Deluxe Book One (2014)
Reprints The Manhattan Projects #1-10
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Nick Pitarra and Ryan Browne

The basic premise of Jonathan HIckman’s The Manhattan Projects is “What if the research and development department created to produce the first atomic bomb was a front for a series of other, more unusual, programs?” From this seed of an idea, Hickman and artistic collaborator Nick Pitarra developed alternate history versions of many well-known scientific figures of the mid-20th century. The names are familiar, but what they do and who they are in the context of this comic is a wild trip of discovery, comedy, and horror. At first glance, the books have a graphic design philosophy similar to Hickman’s Krakoa-era X-Men work, making them like artifacts from an alternate reality.

Solo Tabletop RPG – Worldbuilding: Becoming the Villain

You can purchase Becoming the Villain here.

Check our last session with Microscope here.

Becoming the Villain is a solo tabletop RPG that uses Tarot cards and prompts to fashion a villain’s origins. It can be a stand-alone bit of fun or used as part of a campaign’s worldbuilding. For our purposes, we’ll construct the main villain’s backstory in our solo superhero campaign. You’ll create elements that define your character, but those will change a lot through play, and by the end, what you started with will likely be completely different.

Movie Review – Godzilla, King of Monsters

Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956)
Written by Shigeru Kayama, Takeo Murata, and Ishirō Honda
Directed by Ishirō Honda

6 August 1945. Hiroshima, Japan. Three American B-29 heavy bombers passed over the city. One of them, the Enola Gay, dropped a 15-kiloton atomic bomb. That is the equivalent of about 15 thousand tons of TNT. Over 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed. Those who didn’t die immediately were blinded by the flash of the bomb, were crushed under the weight of collapsing buildings, suffered radiation poisoning the following days and months, and more. The U.S. would drop another even larger bomb on Nagasaki. There were plans to drop yet a third bomb on Japanese civilians. Japan had been in talks with the Soviet Union to surrender and end the war. For the United States, a post-war era in which the USSR was seen as a hero was a danger. The atomic bombings of Japan are up there with the Holocaust as some of the most horrific acts of violence humanity has committed on itself. It’s no surprise that many films have been made about this event and the atomic bomb itself. In this series, I want to look at how the bombing is analyzed and made a part of the culture, both through the eyes of the Japanese and the perpetrating nation, the United States.

August 2024 Posting Schedule

Film Series

[The Crime: The Atomic Bombing of Japan – Aug 1 thru 19]
Godzilla (1954), The Atomic Cafe, Barefoot Gen, Grave of the Fireflies, Miracle Mile, Black Rain, Oppenheimer, Godzilla Minus One

[More Sight & Sound Samplings – Aug 21 thru 31]
The Earrings of Madame De…, Daisies, L’Atalante, Wanda, and Pierrot Le Fou

Patron Pick – Federer: Twelve Final Days

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Federer: Twelve Final Days (2024)
Directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia

Once upon a time, I played tennis nearly every day. In the late 1990s, my family started frequenting the public tennis courts. Being homeschooled, solo sports were the easiest to play rather than team-based ones. I also watched a bit of tennis and knew the players at the time: Sampras, Agassi, Seles, Hingis, Kournikova, etc. Then I went to college, and other than taking tennis as a physical education prerequisite for my bachelor’s degree, I haven’t touched on the sport since. I had heard of Roger Federer; he was emerging as a top player when I stopped paying attention, but I couldn’t say I knew much about him. After watching this documentary about his retirement from the sport, I still can’t tell much about him.

Movie Review – The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Written by Charles McKeown and Terry Gilliam
Directed by Terry Gilliam

I was obsessed with Terry Gilliam’s Brazil as a college undergrad. It was the first time I saw it, and right away, I found the imagery to be spellbinding. I’ve cooled immensely since that time on Gilliam’s work. I find most of it to be incredibly inventive yet frustratingly messy. Some comments he’s made have also caused me to see him as a filmmaker I’m not too keen on following. The first film of his I saw was Time Bandits when I was a kid, and it left an indelible mark on me. I remember seeing commercials for The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and desperately wanting to see it. However, it was never an option when renting movies at the video rental store. Finally seeing the film, reminded me that, like all of Gilliam’s work, there is tremendous artistry here, but it is hindered by a lack of consistency.

Movie Review – The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn (1982)
Written by Peter S. Beagle
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass

I grew up with a very inconsistent standard of what I could and could not watch because of my parents’ reactionary right-wing Christian beliefs. He-Man? It was not allowed because he called on the power of Greyskull, not Jesus. Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia? Perfectly fine because it was some sort of metaphor for Jesus. The Last Unicorn was one of those movies that would air around Easter or Thanksgiving on television. I would catch promos for it but was never allowed to watch because it was “of the Devil.” By the time my youngest siblings reached high school age, my once religiously dogmatic parents had abandoned these strictures but still kept them in their pockets as a cudgel to judge other people. So, after all these decades, I finally got to see The Last Unicorn, and it was, um…okay.

TV Review – The Bear Season Three

The Bear Season Three (2024)
Written by Christopher Storer, Matty Matheson, Courtney Storer, Will Guidara, Catherine Schetina, Joanna Calo, and Alex Russell
Directed by Christopher Storer, Duccio Fabbri, Ayo Edebiri, and Joanna Calo

Fairweather fans always seem to balk at season three. I remember when Mad Men Season Three premiered, and slowly but surely, people who had loved it for the first two years decided that elements of the show they had enjoyed were suddenly not good any longer. I found it to be one the best seasons in the run, finally allowing its characters to face the unwelcome truths in their lives. Lost Season Three is still maligned by so many when it has probably the best season finale of the entire show’s run. The best television moves at its own pace. You are either in rhythm with it, or you are not. In an era where plot and IP-driven television seem to dominate the landscape, it is refreshing to have something that chooses character over plot.

Solo Tabletop Actual Play – Kids on Bikes Solo Part Four

You can purchase Kids on Bikes here.

You can purchase the Plot Unfolding Machine here.

Read about our previous session here

Scene 10 – Rising Action 6 of 8 – Westgrove PD
Modified proposal: Make the location less favorable
Danger: Risk honor or reputation
Who: A political or reasonable person

Waldo is awakened in the early morning hours by Clem shouting at him. Reid is there too and also, Mayor Sartain. The Mayor looks irritated and starts screaming at Waldo.

“Where are the kids, Holman? Tell us, you fucking freak!” the Mayor rages. Reid steps between the Mayor and the bars of the cell.

Comic Book Review – Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volumes Five and Six

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Five (2021)
Reprints Detective Comics #612-614, 616-621 and Annual #3
Written by Alan Grant and Archie Goodwin
Art by Norm Breyfogle and Dan Jurgens

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Volume Six (2022)
Reprints Detective Comics #622-633
Written by John Ostrander, Marv Wolfman, Bill Finger, Mike Friedrich, Alan Grant, and Peter Milligan
Art by Flint Henry, Mike McKone, Jim Aparo, Bob Kane, Bob Brown, Norm Breyfogle, and Tom Mandrake

We see a change of hands as we finish this round of post-Crisis Batman reviews. These issues will mark the conclusion of Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle’s run in Detective, as they were handed the reins of the Batman title. I would say these are not the duo’s best work. We get several one-shot stories before a dramatic conclusion that pushes Tim Drake into his next steps of becoming Robin.