Alan Rapp

Castle – Once Upon a Time in the West

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Castle – Once Upon a Time in the West
  • wiki: link

Castle - Once Upon a Time in the West

Yee-haw! To solve a murder of a woman who was poisoned in Arizona only to die several hours later after getting off a plane in New York, Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) head west to honeymoon at a dude ranch in hopes of discovering what led to the young woman’s death. Although Castle is far more psyched about the dude ranch than Beckett, the rustic old west adventure grows on the detective (even if she does expect a real honeymoon somewhere down the line).

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Grendel vs. The Shadow #3

/ / Comics

Grendel vs. The Shadow #3The conclusion of what if? tales such as Grendel vs. The Shadow are usually the weakest piece of the story, not for fault of the storyteller but simply because the end must reset back to the status quo without allowing either iconic figure to be truly beaten (or killed). Even with these limitations writer/artist Matt Wagner manages to end the three-issue mini-series in style giving us two final confrontations between Hunter Rose and The Shadow.

Of the pair’s individual tales Grendel’s works better as Hunter Rose finds himself pulled into the nostalgia and romance of his time-travel adventure only to realize the truth almost too late. The subplot of Margo Lane‘s possible departure doesn’t work as well simply because at no point are we sold on the possibility of her actually leaving Lamont Cranston.

In the end both warriors are bloodied and battered but Grendel, despite his hurt ego to go along with is injuries, manages to return back to his own time. His inability to find any mention of his adventures in the past suggests Grendel’s journey wasn’t just through time but also through an alternate dimension where crime does not pay. Worth a look

[Dark Horse / Dynamite, $5.99]

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Once Upon a Time – Smash the Mirror

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Once Upon a Time – Smash the Mirror
  • wiki: link

Once Upon a Time - Smash the Mirror

Failing to control her powers, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) turns to Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) for help to take her magic away. Seizing on the opportunity to acquire the magic energy necessary to fill the hat and move one-step closer to breaking the dagger’s control of him, Mr. Gold happily obliges (although he does fail to mention he plans to trap Emma inside the magic hat along with her magic). Although he’s sat on the sidelines for most of the season, helping out here or there when it benefited him most, the true faces of Rumpelstiltskin emerges here as the villain plans to sacrifice his grandson’s mother for his own ends and collect the other necessary ingredient for his spell: the heart of Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue).

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The Flash: Season Zero #2

/ / Comics

The Flash: Season Zero #2Investigating the bizarre animal sightings and attacks around Central City, the Flash goes to the circus in The Flash: Season Zero #2. Thanks to the help of Cisco, Caitlin, and Harrison Wells, links the odd break-outs at the zoo, the bank robbery by a strong man, and an attack of snakes inside a skyscraper all back to the circus which just happened to be pitched outside Central City at the time of the accelerator explosion likely imbuing several performers with unexpected powers.

Much like the show, the comic continues to inject humor into the proceedings such as the Flash being forced to think outside the box to wrangle up a group of chimpanzees and failing yet again to offer an explanation for his absence during the Flash’s heroics that doesn’t make him look like a boob.

Although we don’t get a traditional Flash comic villain, the grouping of the circus freaks (and their evil clowns) led by the villainous Nathan Bliss adds to the danger as the Flash will be forced to take on multiple meta-humans at once for the first time. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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