The Groovy Grab Bag

I must give my sincerest apologies for missing out on the column last week. Due to extenuating circumstances in my family, I wasn’t able to write the second edition of the Groovy Grab Bag. However, from here on out, the Groovy Grab Bag will remain weekly, and I’ll do my level best to give you all something to enjoy. Now here’s what I had to read/watch/play last week.

Comics:

Silk #1

The Vision #1

As you’ll see for this week, it was kind of a short one for me. Certainly not lacking as far as quality goes. I was one of the people late to the party when it came to Silk and Vision, though I’m happy to say that both are fantastic. While Silk relaunch picks up from a very different place than the recent volume, it’s easy to pick up and run with in the new status quo with Cindy Moon becoming a supervillain. The art being one of the selling points of the comic, as well as its take on classic Spider-Man stories through a fresh face. Robbi Thompson and Stacey Lee have taken Cindy Moon from what could have dangerously close to an existence as a one-note figure after Spider-Verse and carved out a unique space for her in what’s increasingly a crowded room with the existing and upcoming Spider-books.

The same goes for Vision as well. While it’s easy to see why Marvel would want to capitalize on the financial success of Avengers: Age of Ultron, like they did with the Hawkeye book, the creative team of The Vision went above and beyond toward defining a character who’s suffered  from being in the background. The story is unlike anything else coming out of Marvel, resembling a horror comic more than a superhero comic with Vision creating a new family and attempting to live a suburban life. That Gabriel Hernandez Walta is on art duties does little to stem that unsettling tone, and complemented with Jordie Bellaire’s colors and there’s a recipe for a new type of Marvel book here. Tom King’s idea for Vision is fairly poignant given how hard Marvel has tried in the past to make the Vision stick, but for the first time, I may well have found a Vision book I’d be happy to point movie fans to.

TV:

Master of None

Jessica Jones

Doctor Who: Heaven Sent

Definitely not hurting for television this week either. I’ll talk more at length in my reviews: Master of None and Jessica Jones. Doctor Who however has been hitting it out of the park. While I’m not always a huge fan of Steven Moffat’s run, he’s undeniably hitting his best season yet.

Video Games:

Far Cry 4

Yeah yeah, I’m late to the party. But PS4 games aren’t cheap, but thanks to the local library it’s been easier to keep up with recent hits. Far Cry 4 has got to be one of the most insane games I’ve ever played though. While I’m not terribly into first person shooters, the amount of craft that goes into Far Cry 4 is unbelievable. The integration of the item system, the leveling system, as well as the dynamic between hunting and fighting is something unlike most games. I’m looking forward to going further with the game as so many others have.

Thanks again for your time folks, and I hope to see you again next week. As always, send your own list on the comments, or simply tweet them to me at @soshillinois