Hey film fans, Slick Dungeon here. I’m back to review the next pick on the Oscar list, West Side Story from 2021. There will be some mild spoilers in this review so if you feel strongly about that go watch the movie first and come back here for the review.
West Side Story (2021) is the film that dares to ask what if Romeo and Juliet was set in New York amidst a couple of gangs of street thugs who not only look tough but are also really good at choreography and harmonizing with one another. It answers this bold question with a resounding… meh.
The plot is basically Romeo and Juliet through and through. The songs might have been innovative at the time they came out but now they don’t really land. The film looks good but it doesn’t have any real substance.
I don’t have anything against musicals, in fact I like a lot of them, and I don’t have anything against West Side Story the musical. But watching this updated version felt wholly and completely unnecessary. While the acting and singing and dancing are all fine here and the cinematography is fantastic this still felt seriously outdated. Not to mention the fact that there is an old version of this musical which everyone is always going to think of as the best version of this musical.
If you’ve never seen West Side Story or never read Romeo and Juliet maybe the events in the film will come as a surprise to you but I guarantee you, you have seen this story before. The songs are passable but still feel like they come from a bygone era of both theater and cinema and don’t exactly resonate in today’s era.
If we are going to nominate a musical with something to say that might resonate with a current audience, I think In the Heights would have been a far better choice.
If you are a huge fan of musicals and have been just hoping for a decent remake of West Side Story this will serve you well. Anyone outside of that audience can really skip this one and be none the worse for it. Maybe go watch Tick, Tick… Boom! or even Encanto instead. Those are far more innovative films and in my opinion more worthy of Oscar nominations than this one.
Hello film fans, it’s Slick Dungeon. This week is Oscar week and since I am a total and complete unabashed cinephile I am going to do my best to review as many of the best Oscar nominees as I can. These reviews are in no particular order they just happen to be the ones I’ve seen most recently. The first one up is CODA. Be warned for these reviews will contain some mild spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie go watch it first and come back here if you care about spoilers.
CODA is about Ruby Rossi, a child of deaf adults. She lives in a fishing community in Gloucester, Maine with her parents and her brother who is also deaf. Because the rest of her family are deaf, Ruby is often called upon to interpret for her family, even when it may not be convenient for her. She also loves to sing. This is hard for her family to understand since they can’t hear her voice.
The plot of the film revolves around Ruby struggling to have her own life, outside of her family. She connects with her choir teacher Mr. Villalobos who wants to mentor her. Ruby has to contend with life, friends, and her family struggling to make a living in a very difficult industry mostly populated by those who can hear.
I don’t want to give too much away but the film is reminiscent of a number of sports films. Still, the movie has a lot of heart. And the soundtrack here is top notch. On top of that, Emilia Jones who plays Ruby has quite the set of pipes and has a great turn here playing the character.
I would say this film is an Oscar worthy nominee. And it’s really nice to see a film portray the deaf community in a real way without oversimplifying or ignoring the unique issues in that community.
If you like films that will lift you up by the end but might make you cry a little (I’m not crying, you’re crying) this is a great choice. We’ll see how it holds up compared to the other nominees but either way this one is a film worthy of watching.
Welcome to my third Flash Fiction Friday! This story was inspired by an old episode of The Twilight Zone. Let me know what you think of it in the comments! Hope you enjoy it!
A Little More Time – by Adam Wright
In the aftermath of the bomb the world was silent. The loudest sound was the crack of his lenses as his heel stepped on his glasses. He could only make out the world in blurs of different shapes and colors.
He had crushed his only reason for living. The books remained stacked on the library steps unread and innumerable. Even so, he kept on living for no other reason than he had nothing else to do.
Days were spent foraging for food. It wasn’t really foraging. There was plenty of food to be found in local markets, neighbor’s houses, restaurants, almost anywhere. The foraging was guessing what it was he was about to eat. A blur of yellow in a can might be peaches or pineapples. Brown was likely beans. He was never sure until he opened the can. What he didn’t want he left out for the animals. They were few and far between. He supposed there were still plenty of insects but he couldn’t see them.
Days turned into weeks. Then months. Years maybe? He marked them off with chalk in huge hash marks on a blackboard in an empty school. He soon ran out of space but there were still more classrooms. He tried remembering the stories he loved and writing them out on the chalkboard. He was never sure if he got it quite right. They were all a jumble in his head and he would think to check in a book to see if it matched and then remember. He couldn’t read them anymore. Shakespear would have to die along with him.
One evening he watched as a blur moved toward him. It had the vague outline of a man but it didn’t walk like one. It moved faster. The sun was setting so he guessed it was a trick of the light, something playing out on the horizon with his eyesight. Or, more likely, he was finally driven mad from the isolation and boredom.
The next night he saw it again. Closer this time. He walked toward it, hope sparking once again in his heart. If there was another person, maybe they knew some stories. Or a way he could find a new pair of glasses. He could have them guide him all over the city until they found a suitable approximation of his lenses.
Just as he was about to approach the shape, he felt a pair of hands wrap around him. There was a piercing pain in his neck, like two sharp needles. The hands let go as he turned around. Whoever grabbed him was already gone. He felt dizzy and sank to his knees. The world went dark.
He didn’t know how long he slept but when he woke it was still dark. And he could see! He could read the signs on the store in front of him. He could make out the headlines on the newspaper stand thirty feet away. He could read again.
He soon learned that the sun burned but the night cooled. He slept while it was bright out and discovered to his amazement that he could read any book he wanted to, as long as it was night. He went through them methodically, one at a time, separated by genre, relishing in the words, loving the way it took his mind to different worlds and places. While he read he could forget almost everything else. He could forget the world was a dead place. He could forget the strange changes to his body, the fangs that now protruded from his mouth that he could see in the mirror.
It was obvious what he was. He read about it in a book written long ago by Brahm Stoker. Even reading that kept his mind off the one other constant he now had. He had all the time he needed to read but he was going to waste away soon.
There was a gnawing, constant hunger in his stomach. The cans of food no longer appealed to him. He tried to eat the food anyway but it just made him sick. He spent hours looking for something to eat. Something living with blood pumping through its veins. He couldn’t even find a squirrel or rabbit.
He had all the books he could ever hope to read and the time to read them. Shakespear was going to die with him anyway. There was no food left, all the humans with their pumping blood had been destroyed in the bomb.
Footsteps in the Dark Volume II by Joshua G. J. Insole
Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.
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SUMMARY
Another collection comes from the three-time Reedsy winner, Joshua G. J. Insole. This second volume of horror and sci-fi explores the dark alleys of the mind once more.
A woman defends house and husband from the home’s eight-legged inhabitants. Two strangers discuss music’s finer points as cannibals try to break into their car. A gender-reveal party goes off the rails as the true nature of the infant comes to light. Thirteen women gather at night to right the wrongs of society. A mother takes shelter in the family treehouse as the world ends around her. And finally—
Wait. Do you hear that?
Footsteps.
Footsteps in the dark.
REVIEW
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Footsteps in the Dark is a collection of short science fiction and horror stories, most of them between three and five pages long. It’s a world of stories inhabited by zombies, vampires, wendigos, creepy crawly spiders and other things that go bump in the night. There are also several stories that might be considered more science fiction than horror but even these have a bit of a horror element to them.
The nice thing about a collection like this is there is a wide variety of stories to read and none of them take a huge time commitment. While not every story comes off perfectly, any reader who is a fan of horror is bound to find at least one story here that will stay with them long after reading. For example, Gender Reveal takes a decidedly unexpected turn and the story Ordinary stayed with me long after I finished that story. Another standout in my mind was Homeowner’s Association which gives a new take to how much people are willing to tolerate in their neighbors.
A word of warning would be that some of the stories can get a bit gory so if you don’t have a stomach for that type of reading you may want to skip a few in this collection. If you have a strong enough stomach though, most of the stories are worth reading at least once and added together they make a fine collection for horror fans.
If you like bite-sized horror and science fiction stories this is a great collection to add to your shelves.
For the tenth issue of a comic there sure are a lot of firsts in this issue. Right on the cover is the first of the firsts. This is the first Marvel comic (and I believe the first comic ever) to use the writer and artist of the comic as part of the story in the comic. It’s way more metaverse than Zuckerberg could ever get.
The issue starts off in fairly standard fashion for a Fantastic Four comic. Reed Richards is in his lab doing some tests to get a better understanding of how Sue Storm’s powers work. The team then sees the emergency signal in the shape of a 4 outside their window. They figure Ben Grimm must be in trouble since he’s the only member of the team not there. Somehow the lab door has been closed and we see Johnny and Reed try a couple different things to get the door opened. It’s not easy since it’s “nuclear powered” so heat won’t work and Reed has to basically stretch his way all through the building but he’s unsuccessful. Johnny tries again but with a flame concentrated so much it burns without heat. (Yeah I’m not sure how that works either but it’s a comic so I’ll go with it)
The team rushes out the door to head to Alicia’s place. She has now been established as the Thing’s girlfriend. But because the team is famous it’s a bit hard for them to navigate through the crowd. Reed has to stretch through legs to avoid a crowd, Sue has to go invisible after a creepy guy says, “How’s about a smile for one of your fans??” and of course the Human Torch just flies over everyone. They make to Alicia’s to find out Ben had just sent for the crew because he wanted to show them the sculptures Alicia made of some of their past foes. She clearly has talent as a sculptor and we get to see Mole-Man, Dr. Doom, Namor and a few others she has made. Sue doesn’t think Namor should be lumped in with the other ones. Reed very nearly talks to Sue about her feelings for Namor but Sue cuts him off. It seems Reed had the understanding he and Sue would eventually be married but it seems her feelings for the King of Atlantis may be making things a bit complicated.
The next panel is where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby make comic book history. I imagine they did this just to have something to put on the page and to see if it would work but for the first time ever we see the authors of the comic directly addressing the readers of the comic in the story. The panel narrates, “And that, dear reader, is as far as Jack Kirby and I got with our story, before the unexpected happened! But let us show you just how it all came about… our scene now changes to the studio of Kirby and Lee, on Madison Avenue, where we find…” And in the image we see Stan and Jack from behind, with lots of artwork around them. In the background you can see pictures of Hulk and Ant-Man. On Kirby’s art table is a picture of Thor and in his hands Kirby has an illustration of a villain he wants to call “false-face” who just really has a big mustache.
I call special attention to this panel for a few reasons. First, if there was ever any doubt, this firmly places the Fantastic Four right in New York City along with the offices of Marvel. Second, with the drawings scattered around Jack Kirby not only do we have a view of heroes we’ve been reading about, we also, very nearly, have the full Avengers team. And finally, we’ve known Marvel comics exist in the Marvel 616 universe ever since Johnny Storm remembered reading about Sub-Mariner but now we know that Marvel writers and artists also exist in the Marvel 616 universe.
The next panel has Stan lamenting that they can’t use a great villain like Dr. Doom again because he was lost in space. And then we get another first. Dr. Doom walks in to the office of Lee and Kirby. This is the first time we get to see a Marvel character meet a Marvel creator. Lee and Kirby are understandably worried but do want to know how it’s possible Doom survived. Doom says there is an explanation but he won’t give it now. He then takes off the mask he always wears. We as readers don’t ever get to see Doom’s face. We actually don’t see Lee and Kirby’s faces either as they are always shown from behind or with their hands over their faces. But either way, Doom’s face is disturbing to the Marvel men so we know there is some major disfigurement there.
Doom demands they call Mr. Fantastic to discuss a new story. This gives the reader the impression every issue we have read has actually been told to Lee and Kirby and we’re just reading the translation of that story by Marvel. And to confirm that, Reed does get a phone call in his lab from Lee and Kirby. The Thing even complains about how he’s drawn. Reed heads over to the office and as soon as he gets there he is gassed by Doom. Doom tells Lee and Kirby to pass on an address to the other members of the FF where they can go if they want to get Reed back.
Doom relates a rather silly tale to Reed about how he was rescued by space aliens called “the ovoids” who have oval shaped heads. Turns out they had advanced technology and were able to transfer their consciousness from one body to another. Doom being Doom he learns their technology and heads back to Earth. He switches consciousnesses with Reed thus setting it up so the other members of the team will attack Reed in Doom’s body. His ruse works for a time as the three do pummel what they think is Dr. Doom. He pleads with them but at first they don’t believe him. The team tries to think of different ways to keep Doom from menacing them permanently without, you know, actually killing him. Finally Doom as Reed suggests just putting him in a sort of glass cage he has. The other three team members leave, giving Doom a minute or two to gloat.
In the next section of the story there are a bunch of miniature zoo animals causing havoc in the Baxter building. Turns out Doom as Reed stole a bunch of zoo animals to see if he could miniaturize them. In truth it’s a reducing ray which will snap the Fantastic Four out of existence once Doom hits them with it. Doom fools them into thinking this is a good idea which will simply increase their powers. Except somehow, for Ben Grimm it would do the opposite and turn him back to human. The fact the ray is doing two opposite things doesn’t seem to occur to the rest of the group here.
Meanwhile Reed uses Doom’s facemask to break through the glass holding him prisoner. Reed is smart enough to go to Alicia’s apartment knowing she’s able to sense the good in people. Unfortunately for him, Sue is there in invisible form and bashes him over the head. There’s a bit of a fight amongst the group but Ben is just not quite able to smash Reed because in the back of his mind he knows Alicia is right. Johnny gets the idea to make it look like a stick of dynamite is in the room by using a “heat mirage” (yeah not clear how that works either). Reed as Doom immediately tries to shield the others from it while Doom as Reed tries to run out the door. The fact that the team turn on Doom is enough for him to lose concentration and switch back to his actual body.
In the fight that follows Doom accidentally trains his own reducing ray on himself. He shrinks to nothingness before anyone can do anything about it. Well, thank goodness we got rid of that guy. I’m sure there’s no way he could return again right?
This really was a groundbreaking issue in a lot of ways and it started a long tradition of the FF meeting writers and artists from Marvel. It’s a pretty clever gimmick and it’s a lot of fun.
Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking in on the insects once again as we catch up with Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #39!
Hello horror fans, it’s me, Slick Dungeon. I’m back to review another movie for you. This time I watched Fresh starring Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones which is now streaming on Hulu.
Before I launch into the review I need to warn you about spoilers. I can’t really review this without giving away a huge moment in the movie so if you are bothered by spoilers please watch first and then come back here to read the review.
Okay, one last warning because I am definitely going to spoil some plot points here.
Still with me? Okay good. Have you watched The Tinder Swindler and decided dating apps are just not your thing because, well, look at what happened there? Fresh shows us why it’s a terrible idea to meet someone in real life so I think we can all just agree dating sucks.
Noa (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) is tired of dating and sick of dating apps. Along comes Steve (played by Sebastian Stan) who seems kind of awkward but maybe an alright guy. And the best part is Noa meets him in the grocery store where you can find real, actual people without swiping left. She ends up going on a date with him and things seem to be going well.
It’s moving a bit fast but she brings him to her apartment where they hook up. He’s even still there in the morning and seems nice enough. Noa tells her friend Molly about it and the friend is rightly concerned. Steve also doesn’t seem to have any social media presence which might be a little sketchy. Regardless, Noa likes him enough to agree to go on a weekend trip with him to a “surprise location.” Against her better judgement she goes.
She arrives at Steve’s house where they are supposed to stay before going on their trip. They have a little chat and a nice drink and here’s where I am about to drop a huge spoiler so seriously last chance to watch first.
Steve drugs Noa and she wakes up chained to the corner of a room. Steve calmly explains to Noa that he’s going to keep her alive as long as he can but he’s going to sell her meat, slowly, to people who are willing to pay for it.
Turns out Steve is the Blue Apron of cannibals. He traps women, carves them up small pieces at a time, and sends the human meat out in boxes filled with items and trinkets that belong to the women he has trapped.
I’m not going to spoil a lot more of the movie here but let’s just say the rest of the movie is what you might expect. Noa tries to figure out how to get out of the situation and Steve is a psychotic violent person who tries to stop her.
Sebastian Stan puts in a great performance as Steve finding just the right edge of being able to present himself as a nice guy but with menace just under the surface. But Daisy Edgar-Jones puts in a truly masterful turn as Noa who doesn’t just spend her time in hysterics over her situation but is able to be clever throughout (other than impulsively agreeing to go on a trip with a near stranger)
Clearly this movie has a bit of blood and gore in it but I do have a pro tip here. Whatever you do, absolutely do not, watch this movie while you are eating dinner. Trust me.
The ending is believable and interesting and overall the film really works. The only thing that kind of bothered me here was that I don’t think the market for what Steve was doing would be there and as sustainable as the film implies.
But the film does make a pretty strong statement about the state of dating in this era.
If you like movies with a lot of suspense and a bit of gore that tend to be more psychologically disturbing than anything this one is definitely worth a watch.
Allow me to introduce to you the incredible supervillain Paste-Pot Pete! That’s right, he’s the only villain who chooses as his weapon of choice, a pot of paste and a paste gun that shoots out… paste.
Eventually this guy will become known as “The Trapster” but he starts his criminal career with paste. These kinds of stories are why I love Marvel. They have some of the strangest ideas and somehow a lot of them seem to work. In fact, Paste-Pot Pete actually comes fairly close to defeating The Human Torch on his first time out.
One thing you have to say for Paste-Pot Pete is he’s got a lot of flare. Our story starts in Glenville where Johnny Storm is going to school. He’s at the bank and very nearly writes The Human Torch on his deposit slip thus giving away his secret identity. As far as the Fantastic Four goes the idea of secret identities is kind of nebulous. Everyone pretty much knows where they live and that they were four space explorers who got their powers from cosmic rays. Even before the days of Google it wouldn’t have been that hard to put two and two together.
Leaving that aside, in comes Paste-Pot Pete who proudly announces “Meet Paste-Pot Pete… master criminal!” It’s quite an entrance even if you could argue shouting you’re a master criminal is not something a master criminal would do. Then he goes to town on the bankers and security guards. He’s gluing people to walls, gluing guns to guards hips, and rocking an amazing purple bow tie and beret paired with a green suit. It looks like he took some fashion tips from a combination of The Joker and an art student dropout.
Johnny is in the bank but he can’t just burst into flame without giving away who he is. So instead he sends a flame copy of himself to follow the crook. Pete races on out of there, gluing feet to the street as he goes. He even glues a group of police into their own cars so they can’t run out and get him.
Johnny is finally able to flame on and catch up to Pete but not before Pete has broken into a nearby missile base and defeated several armed and trained soldiers by shooting paste at them.
Pete’s there to grab the latest missile and sell it to the highest bidder. He literally captures the missile by shooting it with paste as soon as it is fired. I don’t know what his glue is made of but he mentions that it is super strong and will only last for an hour. Does that remind anyone else of a certain teenager who uses web fluid to swing around?
Pete does get a great line in at the missile base when he flees with the missile saying, “And anyone who tries to stop me will get a taste of paste!”
Of course, Johnny inevitably catches up to the crook. He first tries to shoot flame arrows at the tires of Pete’s truck but Pete’s reflexes are too good and he maneuvers out of the way.
Johnny’s next idea is to burn a ditch in front of the truck but again Pete is too fast for The Human Torch. This time Pete glues some nearby lumber and uses it as planks to get across. For Pete’s first time out, he’s doing really well. He has escaped one of the Fantastic Four three times already which is no easy feat. Johnny is about to just melt the truck as much as he can when he runs out of flame. As that happens, Pete glues Johnny to the missile he’s carting around.
Unfortunately for Pete his glue gets into the housing of the missile and triggers it to fire. Just when it looks like it’s curtains for Johnny he realizes the intense heat of the missile is enough to give him his flame back. He carefully cuts himself out of the glue by flaming on a single finger. Luckily the missile drops into the ocean so no one is harmed. (Although I suppose if Namor hears about it he’s not going to be happy)
Torch catches back up to Pete and this time does melt the truck. Pete gets out alive but Johnny is smart enough to target Paste-Pot Pete’s paste pot. (Try saying that five times fast) Pete is not out of tricks though. There is still paste in his paste gun even when he doesn’t have his pot. He fires glue at a passing airplane and hitches a ride.
While Johnny does recover all the stolen goods, Paste-Pot Pete manages to escape and rendezvous at a boat waiting for him in the ocean. And thus, Paste-Pot Pete enters the annals of Marvel history being one of the few villains who can actually get away from The Human Torch.
Believe it or not, Pete’s character in the future does get to be a lot more complex and interesting. This is a guy who knows how to plan and to be patient which gives him an advantage over other criminals.
I just love that there are characters like Pete in comic books. I would love to see this dude show up and just take on an Avenger or two in the MCU sometime. But until then, we’ll just have to wonder if Paste-Pot Pete is gone for good. (He’s not)
Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking up on Johnny and the rest of the first family of super heroes with Fantastic Four #10!
Journey Into Mystery Issue 88 Photo Credit: Marvel
The last time we checked in on Thor he was fighting your average, everyday, run of the mill communists and the story was rather dull. One easy way to have a great story for a hero is to have an incredible villain. Loki has already been introduced in the pages of Journey Into Mystery but this second appearance in issue 88 is where he starts to shine. All heroes need a good nemesis and Thor’s will forever be Loki. And of course the dynamics of that relationship are even more complicated because they are brothers (well half-brothers anyway).
If you look at the cover up there you might get the idea that Odin does a bit of toxic parenting here. I mean Loki’s not good by any means but Odin is clearly showing some favoritism and it’s clear this was not the first nor will it be the last time.
The issue starts out with Loki prisoner in Asgard because Thor recently bested him. Loki doesn’t take that too well and since he’s the god of mischief he can perform a ritual where he can see Thor. What he sees is actually a few panels from Journey Into Mystery 87 when Thor escapes from the chains the communists have put on him by turning back into Dr. Donald Blake and slipping his bonds. Loki is able to tell Thor can only stay Thor as long as he is gripping his hammer. If he lets go of it for more than 60 seconds he turns right back into Blake.
Loki is no slouch so he figures he needs to separate Thor from his hammer to defeat him. He’s able to shape-shift into a snake and sneak out past the watchful eye of Heimdall. Once on Earth, Loki takes on the disguise of an old man and goes to the offices of Dr. Donald Blake. He hypnotizes Jane Foster and goes in to see the good doctor.
Here’s where we start to see that Loki is his own worst enemy. He could have, while disguised, easily defeated Blake. But he just can’t resist the urge to show Dr. Donald Blake that he is Loki. His vanity gets him every time.
Naturally, Dr. Blake grabs his cane and taps it on the ground to become Thor. Loki immediately challenges Thor, telling him he will cause havoc throughout this puny world until Thor agrees to fight him. For some reason, Loki allows Thor an hour to prepare.
When he does meet up with Loki, Thor states, “Though I cannot match you, power for power, I have one weapon which you cannot match… the invincible hammer of Thor!“
This shows that while Thor is supremely powerful, he actually knows Loki is a match for him.
Thor then falls into Loki’s trap. He had hypnotized Jane to show up where they were to do battle. He transforms a tree into a tiger just after Thor throws his hammer at Loki. Thor has to choose between grabbing the hammer and saving Jane. These kinds of moral dilemmas are everywhere in Marvel but Loki really is one of the best at manipulating people with choices like these. I think you won’t be surprised to hear Thor saves Jane. This does cause him to be away from the hammer long enough to revert back to Dr. Donald Blake. Lucky for him Jane fainted during all this so she still doesn’t know Thor’s secret identity.
Loki seizes the moment and creates a magical force field around the hammer which Blake can’t budge. Loki turns into a bird and decides to just go wreak havoc amongst the humans. He turns people into “Blank beings” which are just white outlines of who they were. Loki actually did something similar the first time he fought Thor as well. Next on the mayhem list for Loki is turning streets, cars and all non-organic material into candy and ice cream. It’s actually a funny couple of panels but you do tend to feel for the guy who lost his convertible because it was melted by the sun.
While his pranks are kind of silly, he does start to escalate pretty quickly. He next goes toward the arctic where some communists are testing an atomic bomb. He turns it into a dud. So I guess Loki is on the side of the Americans in the cold war? Ha, no he just wants to mess around.
But Dr. Blake knows if left to his own devices, Loki will eventually get up to something lethal. Loki faces an army and just puts wings on all their weapons so they fly away. But Blake has an idea.
He puts word in the newspaper Thor wants a rematch with Loki. Loki can’t resist but to see what is going on. He sees Thor, not knowing it’s actually a plastic dummy. He lifts the force field to check on the hammer which gives Blake the perfect opportunity to grab it.
Before Thor can throw down, Loki turns into a bird again but Thor feeds all the birds peanuts and realizes the one bird not eating has to be Loki. Thor makes short work of it and traps Loki. He takes him back to Asgard once again where Odin is none too pleased with Loki.
This issue does a fine job of establishing the real rivalry between Thor and Loki and sets up a lot the elements of some of the best Thor stories to come.
Next up on the reading list we’ll be visiting with Johnny Storm in the pages of Strange Tales #104!
Welcome to my second Flash Fiction Friday. This is a story I wrote called An Apple a Day. I hope you enjoy!
An Apple a Day
Angus Flannagan walked through the door kicking up a cloud of dust. The day was hot and a blast of heat followed him. The store, full of barrels of flour, tools for mining, and sweets for the little ones, was nearly empty except for the man behind the counter. He wore spectacles and suspenders. His nose reminded Angus of a hawk and his eyes were about as beady as one. Angus nodded his hello and pawed through the store.
He placed the hammer, the hatchet, and the rope on the counter.
“Three ninety-five,” the storekeeper announced without looking up at Angus.
“And one of those.” Angus pointed to a barrel of apples, red and juicy.
“‘Twill be a penny more, unless you’re looking to buy five, in which case that’s two pennies. ‘S as good a deal as you’ll find round here.”
“Just the one.” Angus gathered his things and made his way out of the store back into the hot and dusty day. He slung the rope around his shoulder, carried the hatchet in one hand and the hammer in the other. The apple he put in his pocket.
Angus thought about Judith on the way back. She’d been young and beautiful when they first met. She hadn’t said much, only smiled. That suited Angus fine and all he did was smile back. They’d spent a lot of quiet moments together since then, just smiling. Her auburn hair matched well with his shock of red on top and they had gotten along just fine. Just fine. Most days anyway.
They’d had their trouble of course, what couple doesn’t? She did miss her mother though. It took Judith ages to persuade him but Angus agreed to have the woman sent for. Within a fortnight Mrs. Sally Winthrop had arrived on a fancy carriage drawn by two black horses. Nevermind that Angus didn’t have space nor seed to feed the animals. Didn’t have much use for a fancy carriage either. Still, they made do. Angus was good at odd jobs and didn’t mind the sting of a hard day’s work on his hands now and again.
Every week he would go into town, get the tools he needed, go to some neighbor and patch a roof, or fell a tree or whatever had been needing done. Word soon spread that Angus was a handy fellow to have around. And although he would never say it out loud to anyone, Angus supposed he was pretty handy.
A year passed, then another, then another and soon a strapping baby boy was born. Mrs. Sally Winthrop was none too interested in the child, although she did admit he was a handsome one. What Mrs. Sally Winthrop wanted most was for the child to be silent at night, so that she could get some sleep. No matter what they did, the child would wake at all hours, crying his lungs out. Feeding helped some and there had been the occasion where a small swig of brandy had made its way into the child’s milk at night. Those had been rare but Angus understood the necessity of it. If it kept his mother-in-law happy, he supposed it was none too harmful.
Judith had found it difficult though. Angus was gone a lot of the time tending to his odd jobs and Mrs. Sally Winthrop could be a might demanding at the best of times. Angus remembered more than one occasion in which he arrived home to raised voices. It always threw him when he heard Judith yell. Judith who never wanted to be anything but quiet. She loved to read or knit or cook. Sometimes she hummed a little tune but for her to yell, loud enough that Angus could hear it outside? That was some serious arguing in Angus’ opinion.
Mrs. Sally Winthrop’s favorite thing was to argue about the boy. Angus still thought of Pete as “the boy” because that’s what Mrs. Sally Winthrop always called him. Angus supposed it was because he had been the one to name Pete. That must’ve irked Mrs. Sally Winthrop to high heaven. She’d insisted the child be named Marcelus after her father’s father. Considering that Angus didn’t know the man and Judith only had the vaguest of memories of him, they decided against the name. Mrs. Sally Winthrop did not forgive slights or insults easily.
Angus noticed the dust gathering on his boots as he walked. He looked back at the trail he had left. There were footprints that led back to the store. He looked up at the sky and wondered if clouds might roll in soon. It was so hot, though, that it seemed unlikely. Nothing to do about the footprints then. His boots would need a shine but then again, so did everyone’s on a day like this.
The front door was painted red. Angus had painted that door together with Judith. The pair standing next to each other in silence as they worked. It had been the last thing Angus added to the house and he wanted to make sure they had both put it in together. After the hinges were on and the door framed, Judith declared it was in need of some color. It was the same red as the apple that Angus had bought. He knew when he stepped through it this time, there wouldn’t be any arguments.
Judith sat on the couch. Tears fell down her cheeks in silent rivulets. Mrs. Sally Winthrop lay on the floor. There was a red, angry, wound all the way around her neck. Pete sat in the corner, playing quietly by himself.
Angus nodded his hello. Judith tried to smile but it wouldn’t come.
“Judith, sweetheart, you know that she deserved it, don’t you?” Angus asked.
Judith nodded.
“I never minded the touch of brandy she’d give him, but arsenic, I never thought she’d go that far. I suppose it’ll take a little while to clean this up. How’s your hand?” Angus bent down to look at the bandage she had wrapped around it.
“Still sore a little. She bucked some as I held the rope. She didn’t see me coming from behind but as soon as she felt it, she kicked something fierce.” Judith bowed her head and clutched at Angus.
“Don’t you worry darlin’, no one’s gonna know what you done. I got us some new tools and one of them juicy apples you like so much. I walked an extra two miles outside of town and bought at the first store I saw.” He handed the apple to her and she slipped it into her apron.
For the next hour, Angus worked outside in the hot sun. He had lumber enough to make the wooden box and plenty of nails. The new hammer drove true and the work went faster than Angus had expected. The hatchet was sharp and did its work cleanly. Mrs. Sally Winthrop was laid to rest with little fanfare in front of the house. They had lowered the box into the ground with the same rope that had done the job. After, Angus hung the new rope where the old one had been. As loathe as he was to do it, he tossed in the hatchet and the hammer, perfectly new, into the ground with the box. He buried the spot with dirt. He patched the dirt up and then made rows to plant seed in. It would take a year or two but there would be some fine apple trees just above Mrs. Sally Winthrop.
It was weeks before anyone one noticed her absence in town. Angus did his best to keep things as normal as possible. He did his odd jobs, worked with his neighbors, and came home to Judith and Pete. She sat crying quietly to herself most days. Pete had gotten a lot quieter too. He slept much easier now. He seemed to be the only one.
On the day that the sheriff came to their red door, Angus had been out helping to haul in some lumber. When he arrived back, he had his rope slung around his shoulder. It was still new and unfrayed.
“Angus,” the sheriff nodded.
Angus nodded back.
“People are starting to get worried Angus. No one’s seen Mrs. Sally Winthrop in town for a while. Is she sickly?”
“No sir, she went out to visit some relatives.” Angus hitched up his shoulder to keep the rope from sliding off.
“Looks like you’ve plowed some new ground out here. What are you growing?”
“Some apple trees. You know how Judith likes her apples.”
“I do. I’m sure she’ll appreciate you not having to make a run to town for them.”
“I suppose.”
“Listen, Angus, some people said they hear some shouting over here on occasion. That so?”
Angus nodded.
“Pete could get loud some. She didn’t like it and her and Judith tended to argue. That’s why she left. Couldn’t stand the country, or the noise.”
“You mind if I go in and ask Judith some questions?”
“No need for that. She’s laid up with migraine right now. Anything you need to know, I can tell you.”
“Alright. You say Sally left town. I heard there was some arguing. Could be she left town, could be something else happened. I’m wondering a couple things though. No one saw a fancy carriage leave town, like the one she rode in on. Her horses are still here too. Want to explain that?”
“She hired a driver, simple as that.”
The sheriff nodded.
“Collins at the mercantile says he hasn’t seen you in weeks. He told me he’d go out of business if you didn’t come in to buy fresh tools and apples regularly. You been down to the store lately?”
“Can’t say I have. You really need to know all this, Dale?”
“Just my job. When’s the last time you bought some apples for Judith?”
“I don’t know must have been about three weeks ago. She loves them but I haven’t had too much chance to get around lately.”
“Angus, I hate to do this, and this is just a formality, but I’m going to need you to come into town with me. Me and the boys are going to have a few more questions for you. That alright?”
Angus nodded.
“Can I say goodbye to Judith and Pete first?”
Dale slapped him on the shoulder and gave him a nod.
“You go on and do that. I’ll be right out here.”
Angus went in and held Judith and Pete for a few minutes. He smiled at them and left without a word.
The day that Angus was sentenced for murder was a hot one. Dry and dusty. Angus had made sure that Judith’s name was never mentioned. Most people in town wouldn’t believe Judith capable of something like that anyway. She wasn’t handy the way that Angus was.
Across from him sat a man with a hawk nose and eyes just about as beady as one. When the judge asked how the man was certain that Angus had bought the items they found under the fresh patch of dirt the man was quick with his reply.
“He only bought one apple. No one passes up five for two pennies.”
This issue of The Incredible Hulk starts off with a fun and interesting sci-fi adventure full of great feats by the Hulk and memorable situations and enemies. It ends with a dull story filled with unfortunate stereotypes that is just not an entertaining tale at all.
In the first story we see General “Thunderbolt” Ross showing Bruce Banner and Betty Ross footage of all the ways Hulk has defeated modern military weaponry. General Ross is smart enough to understand he can’t beat Hulk with brute force so he needs some brains behind his plans. That’s where Banner is supposed to come in. He swears he’ll do his best but needs Rick Jones to help. General Ross is not real keen on Rick but he can’t really tell Bruce what to do because apparently he’s only answerable to the president.
We soon switch to a scene of Betty struggling with the fact she loves Bruce but her father hates the man. We then get our first glimpse of the villain here, a man named Tyrannus. He’s got some sort of machine where he can see Betty and he can drink from the fountain of youth far underground. He was banished there by the wizard Merlin. This establishes further magic and lore that will be used in the 616 universe in pages to come.
Not only does Tyrannus have this fountain to drink from he has a legion of loyal minion creatures who seem to worship him. They are able to build machines and weapons for Tyrannus which he uses to trap Betty. He disguises himself as an archeologist but Bruce picks up on it pretty quick. Somehow Tyrannus takes Betty underground and basically Bruce has to become the Hulk to free her.
He has no real trouble getting down there but he’s instantly gassed and knocked out cold. This is still in a period where Hulk has Banner’s brain so he doesn’t just switch from Bruce to Hulk whenever he goes unconscious. Tyrannus uses Hulk as a slave and it’s here underground where we get the very first instance of “gladiator Hulk”. He’s basically dressed up like a Spartan warrior and forced to fight a robot. Hulk easily destroys it but he can’t stop Tyrannus because Betty is still captive. Rick jones sneaks away and frees her though and soon Tyrannus learns he’s messed with the wrong green dude. Throughout the story Hulk has a bit of a harder edge than in previous stories and he’s a little more hateful toward humanity, excepting Rick and Betty. Of course they all get away and live to fight another day.
And so we lead into the next story which starts out fine. General Ross fires an “Iceberg Rocket” which shoots out foam that freezes the Hulk. Unfortunately for Ross Hulk gives off intense body heat, which makes some sense if he’s pretty much gamma powered. That melts the ice and Hulk is free again. He goes back and turns back to Bruce Banner who admits, “Each time I become the Hulk, I grow more and more unwilling to return to my normal self!” As always, Bruce Banner’s truest enemy is himself.
Soon Bruce hears on the radio about a tiny asian village in the principality of Llhasa where a “General Fang” has come to take over. It’s here where the story takes a turn into unfortunate stereotypes of the time and we see some less than flattering imagery of people becoming helpless when an aggressive dictator wants to take over. Hulk hops on an airplane of all things to fly there. He’s discovered on the plane and he and Rick Jones have to jump out the emergency exit. We’ll just assume everyone else on the flight was fine.
As you might predict, Hulk comes and obliterates this army by doing things like blowing wind at them and um… dressing up like the abominable snowman. Yep, apparently General Fang’s forces are more afraid of the abominable snowman than they are of General Fang or the big green dude who literally blew them off their feet a few panels before. Turns out Fang has been winning all his battles by projecting a hologram of a dragon at the opposing forces. Hulk straight up tries to attack it and ends up trapped. Well, no trap holds Hulk for long so he goes back to fighting off this army single handed. He drops Fang off near some U.S. soldiers and that’s that.
It’s not a good Hulk story and it borders on the ridiculous but we haven’t seen the last of the big green guy and he’ll eventually get much better action happening.
Next up on the reading list we’ll be checking in on the Norse god of thunder, Thor, in Journey Into Mystery #88!
