4 Razors

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19

/ / Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19 comic reviewIt’s been a bit since I read a Buffy comic. There’s an awful lot happening in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19. First, we get astral Willow checking in on her former best bud turned vampire Xander Harris. The scene has a mix of melancholy mixed in to the pair’s usual banter. We also get to see a bit of Kendra (Slayer #2) and Rose (Willow’s ex-girlfriend) together. When did this happen? Nice to see Kendra getting a bit more developed in the revamped Buffyverse. And Buffy, no matter what timeline it is, is still struggling with relationships.

This issue also gives us Willow astral moseying on a dark omen of things to come just before the first appearance of Faith (Slayer #3). Three Slayers, no waiting! I’ve missed quite a bit, but there’s some promise in this issue that rekindles the interest that was dampened by the hit-and-miss Hellmouth crossover.

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Scooby-Doo! – Nowhere to Hyde

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Scooby Doo, Where Are You! – Nowhere to Hyde
  • wiki: link

Scooby-Doo! - Nowhere to Hyde television review

Throwback Tuesday takes us back to Scooby Doo, Where Are You! for another mystery involving some meddling kids and their talking dog. In a twist, a ghost finds the gang in “Nowhere to Hyde” when the Ghost of Mr. Hyde (John Stephenson) hides in the back of the Mystery Machine after a jewel robbery. Once discovered, the ghost escapes and Mystery, Inc. chases him to a spooky house in the middle of nowhere where they find a scientist (Stephenson) suffering from blackouts and his unusual housekeeper Helga (Susan Stewart). While it’s unclear how exactly Hyde is a ghost, the design of the monster of the week is a lot of fun.

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Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World #1

/ / Comics

Dungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World #1 comic reviewDungeons & Dragons: At the Spine of the World #1 begins in blood as those transporting a haul from a mining excavation, a large stone of the mystical gem Chardalyn, go into murderous rage leaving only a single survivor for Runa to find. The first issue slowly builds the campaign, adding characters one by one. First we see the injured warlock Amos, the sole survivor, and to his assistance comes the barbarian Runa and ranger Saarvin helping to dispatch an angry Remorhaz. The nearby town, having their own troubles, adds the young druid Belvyre his protector Patience, along with the idea for a quest that might just save the town.

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The Mandalorian – The Heiress

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Mandalorian – The Heiress (Chapter 11)
  • wiki: link

The Mandalorian - The Heiress television review

“The Heiress” introduces our Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) to other Mandalorians who have made appearances on both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. To do this, the show is forced to reconcile one of the largest continuity errors between it and every other version of Star Wars that has ever existed outside of The Mandalorian. This, of course, being the idea that “real” Mandalorians don’t remove their helmets in the presence of others. The episode’s workaround feels a bit half-assed, but does the necessary work to introduce the idea that our Mandalorian was raised by a cult of fanatics who instilled in him some hardline beliefs others, like those born on Mandalore, don’t follow. This allows the show to reintroduce characters with a far different take on “the way” once the battered Razor Crest touches down on Trask.

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Slay the Dragon

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Slay the Dragon
  • IMDb: link

“That’s an astonishing manipulation of democracy.”

Slay the Dragon DVD reviewGerrymandering, the process of taking advantage of redrawing voting districts to favor one political party’s interests, has been around for two centuries. Slay the Dragon takes a hard look at the Republican change in 2010 led by REDMAP which used modern technology to take the practice to extremes to remap states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin in ways that led to the disenfranchisement of voters. Rising to meet the challenge were groups created by private citizens focused on reclaiming their power by fighting the process of gerrymandering on both state and federal levels.

Directors Chris Durrance and Barak Goodman do a fairly good job of explaining both the practice of gerrymandering and its effects. While primarily looking at how private citizens such as Katie Fahey worked to organize against the practice, the documentary details the Tea Party’s wins in the 2010 election and the subsequent redrawing of the districts were just the first steps in a conservative agenda that included undercutting unions and suppressing voters prior to the 2016 general election.

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