FORTIER & DAVIS' BOSTON BOMBERS #3: AN ALTERNATE-REALITY AFFAIR

Writer Ron Fortier & artist Rob Davis (courtesy of Redbud Studio) have just released the third compelling chapter of The Boston Bombers.

For the unaware, The Boston Bombers stars a female, aerial troop that assists the Catholic Church on surreptitious missions. To differentiate this saga, its backdrop depicts Christ as a female, who's been accepted by the Jews as their Messiah. In addition, WWII never occurred, and the Roman Empire has reigned as the definitive world power for centuries. 

In the latest chapter, "A Mother's Blessing," Bombers leader Indra Divine learns a startling truth about Princess Kumana, who's being hunted by Senator Rufus Iturius' hired assassin. According to her mother, Bishop Pirelle Divine, Indra and the princess are, in fact, stepsisters.

From this, a flashback unfolds, where the bishop details her affair with the married Senator Tiberious Kumana. However, the love component isn't staged to instill a sappy segue. The union supplies vital background for the saga, while prompting heightened guilt, shame and commitment within a distinct, Catholic context, making Fortier's latest, Boston Bombers chapter his most complex to date. 

"A Mother's Blessing" (as well as its prior chapters) can be purchased at Indy Planet. 

Here's your chance to get in on one of the best, alternate-reality chronicles ever conceived. 

Leap aboard at 

https://www.indyplanet.com/the-boston-bombers-v2-3?swcfpc=1

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: SPIDEY & CAP

 

COLLECTIBLE TIME: ARROW'S WAKE IN FRIGHT BLU-RAY/4K RESTORATION

"May you dream of the devil and wake in fright."

An Old Curse

Wake in Fright (aka Outback, for the international circuit) is a 1971 benchmark in Australian, New Wave cinema. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and scripted by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook's esteemed, 1961 novel (in its own right, inspired by Richard Harris Barham's 1837 poem). Despite gaining critical praise, it became a perceived "lost" movie, but was, in truth, tucked away only so that it might return for far greater fame, as in Arrow's 4K & Blu-ray restoration. 

The adventure startled audiences for being not only a dark character study, but an on-the-cusp, horror movie, though its monsters are palpable variants of those one might meet along a forbidding path or perhaps like a frenzied composite that stares back at one during a spiraling bender. 

The concept stars Gary Bond as schoolteacher John Grant, who embarks on a Christmas holiday to meet his girlfriend, played in flashback by Nancy Knudson. However, on his way to Sydney, he stops at a colorful but sordid town called "Yabba," where he succumbs to the Faustian draw of booze and gambling and must lean on those who are, to say the least, not quite what who they seem, including Doc Clarence F. Tydon, portrayed by Donald Pleasence, in one of the great thespian's most disconcerting roles.

Wake In Fright's HD and Blu-ray, companion releases are accentuated by the following: audio commentary by Kotcheff and film editor Anthony Buckley; audio commentary by Peter Galvin, writer of The Making of Wake in Fear; a "Return to Yabba," location segment; interviews with cinematographer Brian West, sound editors Keith Palmer and Eddy Joseph, music composer John Scott and Kotcheff (the latter archival); a Donald Pleasance tribute, guided by film historian Kim Newman; a discussion on the movie between filmmaker Phillippe Mora and critic Paul Harris; an obituary on character-actor costar, Chips Rafferty (by Ken G. Hall); behind-the-scenes footage; alternate scenes; the movie's restoration process; trailers and TV spots; plus much more. 

The edition also contains an exquisite booklet, penned by Jay Slater, Paul Le and David Michael Brown, along with a two-sided insert sleeve featuring the prime, original, poster artwork and Jeff Marshall's striking, 2026 re-imagining. 

Wake in Fright inspired a 2017 miniseries, which respects the first's gritty heart while taking matters in a much different direction. It would be wonderful if Arrow released that version, as well, but for the present, the original is here to re-ruminate, thanks to Arrow's painstaking polishing.

Take a gamble on Wake in Fright. For better or worse, you'll come away demented yet invigorated.

https://www.arrowvideo.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAP (2026)!

 

HAPPY JULY 4TH 2026: 250 YEARS!

IN DEFNESE OF LEAPFROG'S LILYPAD

Controversy has struck regarding a reproduction of Toy Story 5's LilyPad, a LeapFrog ("Explore & Learn") collectible tablet, which is devoid of any viable, Internet capacities. (It's a rudimentary, learning device with basic avenues to explore.) Critics say that the item's existence nevertheless contradicts the movie's message. 

For the record, I'm not keen on new-fangled phones, tablets, laptops and so on for youngsters, if those youngsters are to be zombie-fied by them: i.e. kept from engaging in artistic activities, playing outside, watching entire movies, reading entire books and by gosh, making friends of a rambunctious, skin-one's-knee nature.  

LilyPad represents the cold lure that keeps kids entrapped by endless, sporadic searches. Jessie's denouncement of the device is, therefore, understandable (if not just), and yet something happens toward the end of the movie that changes the situation.

LilyPad has a revelation about Bonnie and joins her toys so that she may bond with Blaze. On this basis, LilyPad needn't be eliminated from Bonnie's life, only limited. 

This approach  jives. When I was a kid, there was great concern about those of my kind watching too much television. Doing so could prove detrimental, or so the consensus said, though most youngsters did engage in activities beyond such. It was a matter of finding the ideal balance under parental supervision. Why couldn't the same be applied to LilyPad and her ilk? 

Toy Story 5 tackles that question, and yet it seems that critics of LilyPad's representations (whether through LeapFrog or any of the Mattel offshoots) are inclined to condemn the intent. Did they doze off at the movie's most pivotal point? 

LilyPad is a character in an ongoing franchise, whether perceived as a villain or ultimate friend. Representations of the character should be part of the extensive, Toy Story line and wanting to ban the character from it is plain silly.

I challenge LilyPad's castigators to rewatch the movie (the entire movie), and then tell me I'm wrong.😌

PINUP TIME: INGER STEVENS