POTPOURRI

I goofed yesterday. Instead of posting my weekly comics entry, I saved it as a draft. So the update did not appear. Crap. Technically, I did update yesterday, keeping my daily post streak alive; it's just none of you could see the update. Okay, technically, I screwed the pooch. But it's up now.

MOVIES: Just re-watched Gremlins 2: The New Batch on DVD. It really is a very funny, satirical film. My favorite parts are when it directly satirizes the original Gremlins, as when Leonard Maltin gives that film a bad review, and is savaged by gremlins. Or, even better, when Phoebe Cates, spoofing her "Why I hate Christmas" speech from the first film, suddenly goes into a silly "Why I hate Lincoln's Birthday" rant, while boyfriend Zach Galligan rolls his eyes behind her. Best of all, you gotta love Tony Randall as the "Brain" Gremlin. Oh, and Christopher Lee (as "Dr. Catheter") carrying a pod from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And also... oh, lots of stuff. Really, it's good.


COMICS: This week's Comic Shop News has a big article on the impending return of Grimjack, my favorite comic book ever. After more than ten years of legal battles over the rights to the character, which were tied up when original publisher First Comics went bankrupt, the rights have finally returned to co-creators John Ostrander (writer) and Timothy Truman (artist). A six issue mini-series is scheduled to debut in early 2005, returning to the first incarnation (it's a long story) of Grimjack, John Gaunt, along with reprints of the original series, and if they do well, there's a possibility of Grimjack returning in a monthly book. Nothing would make me happier. Well, okay, many things would make me happier, starting with Lauren Graham in a French maid's outfit on top of a pile of hundred dollar bills... but nothing within the realm of possibility would make me happier.