Arrow S02 E04: "Crucible"

My mantra in the review of last week's episode was Who is the Black Canary? and now we know. For those of you who already know or figured it out on your own, you'll just have to wait a couple paragraphs, and for those who don't, you'll have to sizzle too. I'll get to it. All that said, I enjoy a little mystery surprise, and "Arrow" gave us a nice one to ponder last week.

Our opening has Oliver and Sebastian Blood parrying once again verbally. I know it's leading up to Oliver running for mayor just like in the comics, and I know that Sebastian is Brother Blood, but I'm just not finding this storyline all that exciting. Oh, we might get references to great inspiring dialogue by Denny O'Neil or Elliot S! Maggin about 'what one man can do,' but on the other hand, I highly doubt that Sebastian is going to pull out the prayer shawl of Jesus or call upon Trigon.

Meanwhile Felicity figures out that the Black Canary (though not yet named so) is following Laurel, not Oliver. Knowing this, our hero ambushes and unmasks her. It's the late Sara Lance, who supposedly died in the shipwreck that stranded Oliver on the island. At least it's a Lance in the leather, oh, and she knows Oliver is The Hood.

Cue painful memory music, and island flashback, it turns out Oliver knew she wasn't dead. On board the Amazo (the boat, not the one man Justice League), he encounters a Russian man in the next cell - will the Bat-connections never end? - it's the KGBeast. I guess we know where Oliver got the tattoo and Russian mob contacts now. And Sara is there too, but not in the way we expect...

Meanwhile a new villain has arisen from the ashes and wreckage of The Glades, a man who ironically calls himself The Mayor, a merciless sociopath who is carving out a territory and a reputation in the city. He's played by an actor I like a bit named Cle Bennett. The Mayor is running guns in Starling City. It seems like even after The Undertaking, Starling City is getting its groove back.

Diggle meets with Lyla of A.R.G.U.S. again regarding Deadshot. Summer Glau continues not to impress. I love her, but I just don't find her believable in this role. I just don't buy it. Laurel is drinking a bit and gets stopped by the cops. It seems that being demoted to beat cop has humbled Quentin Lance as he's now trying to make amends with The Hood and Oliver both. I have the feeling this is an interim episode, just moving the pieces around the board for the big strike.

After a heart to heart chat between Oliver and Blood that invokes the title of the episode, The Mayor attacks a Cash for Guns rally. Our hero saves Blood, but Sin is caught in the crossfire. As you might imagine, this launches both our ersatz Green Arrow and Black Canary at the same target. Yeah, fangasm, baby. Best parts of the clash are tied, when the two trade weapons, and when The Hood deflects a rocket with an arrow.

In the odds and ends department, we had a Jack Kirby shout out, as Marvel's King Kirby did a brief but brilliant stint on Green Arrow in the 1950s. On the bad side, I cringed at the continuity of Black Canary having black eye make up when her mask is on, yet it disappears when the mask comes off. Uncool.

In the end, we see The Mayor bound, but not by the police. He's needle injected with some sort of drug by a man in a weird mask. Remember what I said about the ability of this show to surprise? Yeah, baby, Brother Blood is here, and is that venom?

Next: The League of Assassins!

Halloween at Biff Bam Pop!

All through October, Biff Bam Pop! has been celebrating 31 Days of Horror, special articles and reviews in the genre of horror.

Go on over to the Biff Bam Pop! website, your online home for comics, movies, music, television, video games, and more, and check it out. This month, you can check out articles about Carrie both old and new, John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, Nothing Left to Fear, Metallica: Through the Never, and even The Human Centipede.

This month there is also an interview with Slash, terrific guest blogs by Alyssa Lobit, Liisa Ladouceur, Robin Renee, Justin McConnell, Jim Knipp, and great horror themed comics reviews from JP Fallavollita and Jason Shayer. And don't forget the television reviews from Marie Gilbert of "American Horror Story: Coven," "Sleepy Hollow," NBC's new "Dracula," and "The Walking Dead."

Some guy named Glenn Walker even wrote a few things over there, like stuff about The Monsters of Doctor Who, The Atlas Comics Monsters, Solomon Kane, and The Bride of Frankenstein

Please check it out, and Happy Halloween!

Doris Danger on ComiXology

I have only recently caught up with the world technology-wise. I have only had my iPad Mini a few months, and I'm still learning. And it's also only been a short time since I have been reading digital comics the, um, shall we say, the legal way.

ComiXology is my friend, my reding device, and the bane of my wallet, but it has been a new way for me to experience not only comics, but comics in a new way as well. It has also been a way for me to explore comics I might not have read otherwise or catch up on stuff I haven't read in a while. In other words, I do a lot of exploring on ComiXology.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered an old friend and his work there, and I purchased it right away. I'm talking about Doris Danger by the talented Chris Wisnia. Chris has been doing comics for a while now and I have been following him and cheering him on for most of that time, whether it's Tabloia, or Dr. DeBunko, or even Doris Danger, it is always a fun time reading comics. And really, aren't comics supposed to be fun?

Currently only Chris Wisnia's Doris Danger Giant Monster Adventures is available digitally, and some of the stories included are even specially formatted for optimal e-reading. I had read all the stories in the collection before, but still I was happy to not only have them all in one place, but also in electronic form.

This terrific e-comic is ninety-six pages of tales of giant monsters in the Atlas Comics tradition of the legendary Jack Kirby. Yes, Kirby homage is kinda old hat these days, but Chris was not only doing it before it was cool, he was (and is) doing it better than all the other guys. He's found that elusive groove between respect and humor with falling into insult or mockery. Each page is lovingly rendered and showing what was so cool about 1950s giant monster comics, both good and bad.

The book is described thusly: "As a teen, Doris Danger was abducted by a giant monster. Ever since, she's had a burning desire to prove the existence of giant monsters, but has been unable to prove her beliefs by snapping an indisputable photograph. While she has convinced many, she has also met many who doubt, who try to disprove, or even lie, manipulate, and cover up evidence. Doris Danger crosses the X-Files with the classic Lee/Kirby giant monster comics, with a little bit of Godzilla thrown in for good measure."

Chris Wisnia rocks these comics, that also feature fabulous pin-ups by artists you have definitely heard of like Russ Heath, Steve Rude, and Mike Mignola among others; and great letters columns and text pieces detailing the history of these amazing comics, both real and fictional.

I love these books, and whether you have or haven't experienced them before, you should definitely check out Doris Danger Giant Monster Adventures in electronic or hard copy form, and also stop by Chris' website to see all the other creative stuff he has going on, and Follow him on Twitter as well.

The Frankenstein Theory

The Frankenstein Theory ~ Shot similarly to The Blair Witch Project, a documentary crew follows the obsessed Professor John Venkenheim to the Arctic where he intends to prove that Frankenstein was not only true, but about his ancestor, and to vindicate his reputation once and for all. He believes he can find the Frankenstein monster.

This is a fascinating concept, and the film moves between actual movie and shaky cam documentary style well. Writer/director Andrew Weiner's background is in Troma and low budget horror, but this is a step above. I liked it.

Kris Lemche plays Venkenheim with perfect obsessive creepiness, but just enough compassion that you care about him. It's just this side of pity, but you do care for the buggy little fella. Joe Egender does him one better as the antsy paranoid meth-head and witness to the monster's present day shenanigans.

Tiny role, but camera crewman Brian Henderson made me laugh doing a funnier Dane Cook than Dane Cook. Timothy V. Murphy playing the wilderness guide who channels Robert Shaw in Jaws wonderfully is pretty entertaining too. I absolutely love him and his campfire story. Beautiful.

Granted, the film does fall apart a bit toward the last act, but there are enough good parts here to push it above say, Sharknado. I really kinda dug it, recommended for horror fans.

Disney's Art of Animation Resort

Our recent vacation included a short stay at the newest resort in Walt Disney World - Art of Animation. Originally it was to be called Legendary Years, a sister resort to Pop Century. As Pop Century was a tribute to the decades of the last half of the twentieth century, Legendary Years would cover the first half, 1900-1950. After 9-11 however, for whatever reason, construction halted for several years.

If you like to see a video of what it looked like during those non-construction years, my friend John Corigliano, of the Your Ear to the World podcast, did a walk-through with his camera. You can see that here. Thankfully construction started again, but with a new objective and name, Art of Animation, with each building dedicated to a different recent animated feature.

The family suites are in the Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo buildings, with the single suites in the Little Mermaid buildings. For our time at Art of Animation, we stayed in the Lion King suites, the buildings being surrounded by giant statues of the various characters and scenes from the movie. Outside of our building was Pride Rock, the Elephant Graveyard, the "Hakuna Matata" log, and Rafiki's home, with giant statues of all the favorites in and around. It was something.

Our suite rocked. Not only was it fairly big, almost colossal compared to our cabin on board the Disney Fantasy, the room was literally bursting with iconic Lion King jungle décor. The carpeting, the bedspreads, the furniture - it was all jungle themed. The TVs were large flat screens with an electronics deck under them to both recharge your phones and other devices, but you could also hook up your video equipment to watch on the big screen.

Our dining room table collapsed into the extra Murphy bed for a fun twist, and came with stackable chairs. The suite even had a small, but almost complete kitchen. The bathroom even got into the act, with a cavernous shower stall in a beautiful orange sunset as shown in the movie. This came complete with orange smelling soap and shampoo. What a terrific extra accent! This was a great suite, right down to the bathroom. And in the hotel itself, even the elevators were jungle-like in motif and temperature, almost lush.

The doors were unlocked by our Magic Bands, which also allowed us access to the parks, and we could purchase items in the hotel and in the parks as well with them, including FastPasses. The lobby, staffed by the usual wonderful customer service folks, is decorated by animation sketches from the films featured there, from original ideas to final products, almost like evolutionary stages.

The food court, Landscape of Flavors, is reputed so good that folks from Pop Century will walk over to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner there. Some of it was okay, and some really good. I'll be talking about some of their offerings over at French Fry Diary in the near future, so keep an eye out.

Also, if you'd like a more personal look at Disney's Art of Animation Resort, The Bride and I talk about it on the newest episode of our new Make Mine Magic Podcast. You can hear it here. Check it out.